NaAlH4 complex hydrides doped with lanthanon hydrides were prepared by hydrogenation of the ball-milled NaH/Al+ xrnol.% RE-H composites (RE=La, Ce; x=2, 4, 6) using Nail and A1 powder as raw materials. The influence of lanthanon hydride catalysts on the hydriding and dehydriding behaviors of the as-synthesized composites were investigated. It was found that the com- posite doped with 2 mol.% LaH3.01 displayed the highest hydrogen absorption capacity of 4.78 wt.% mad desorption capacity of 4.66 wt.%, respectively. Moreover, the composite doped with 6 mol% CEH2.51 showed the best hydriding/dehydriding reaction kinetics. The proposed catalytic mechanism for reversible hydrogen storage properties of the composite was attributed to the presence of active LaH3.01 and CeH2.51 particles, which were scattering on the surface of Nail and A1 particles, acting as the catalytic active sites for hydrogen diffusion and playing an important catalytic role in the improved hydriding/dehydriding reaction.
TiC-doped NaA1H4 complex hydrides were prepared by hydrogenation of ball-milled Nail/A1 mixture with x TiC powder (x = 0, 5%, 8%, 10%, mole fraction). The effects of TiC catalyst content on the absorption/desorption behaviors of the samples were investigated. The results show that TiC can improve the hydriding/dehydriding kinetics of sodium aluminum hydride, the hydriding rate of the sample increases with increasing TiC content. It is found that the TiC-doped NaA1H4 composites have a relatively good cyclic stability. The composite doped with 10% TiC maintains steadily about 4.5% (mass fraction) hydrogen absorption capacity as against about 3.8% (mass fraction) hydrogen desorption capacity over 8 cycles. The particle sizes of the TiC-doped NaA1H4 composites can be reduced to 50-100 nm, which may play an important role in improving the hydriding/dehydriding kinetics.
The formation conditions of MgB2 in 2LiBH4 + MgH2 system during dehydrogenation were investigated and its mechanism was discussed. The results show that direct decomposition of LiBH4 is suppressed under relative higher initial dehydrogenation pressure of 4.0×10^5 Pa, wherein LiBH4 reacts with Mg to yield MgB2, and 9.16% (mass fraction) hydrogen is released within 9.6 h at 450 ℃. However, under relatively lower initial dehydrogenation pressure of 1.0×10^2 Pa, LiBH4 decomposes independently instead of reacting with Mg, resulting in no formation of MgB2, and 7.91% hydrogen is desorbed within 5.2 h at 450 ℃. It is found that the dehydrogenation of 2LiBH4 + MgH2 system proceeds more completely and more hydrogen desorption amount can be obtained within a definite time by forming MgB2. Furthermore, it is proposed that the formation process of MgB2 includes incubation period and nucleus growth process. Experimental results show that the formation process of MgB2, especially the incubation period, is promoted by increasing initial dehydrogenation pressure at constant temperature, and the incubation period is also influenced greatly by dehydrogenation temperature.
Mg2FeH6 doped with and without Ti and its alloys (TiMn2, TiAl) were prepared combing ball milling and heat treatment. The effects of these additives on the dehydrogenation performance of Mg2FeH6 were studied systematically. The results show that all additives have favor influence on improving the hydrogen desorption property of Mg2FeH6. Especially, TiMn2 exhibits prominent effect on enhancing the dehydrogenation kinetics of Mg2FeH6. Moreover, the activation energy of TiMn2-doped Mg2FeH6 calculated by Kissinger equation is 94.87 kJ/mol, which is 28 kJ/mol lower than that of the undoped Mg2FeH6. The cycling tests suggest that the improved dehydrogenation kinetics of Mg2FeH6 doped by TiMn2 can maintain in the second cycle.