Abstract
Dehydrogenation of NaAlH 4 can be greatly facilitated by activated carbon catalysts. The catalytic function can be further enhanced by decorating the carbon with Co, Ni, or Cu nanoparticles. The decomposition temperature was lowered by as much as 100 °C using a 3 wt.% Co or Ni-decorated activated carbon, comparable to a Ti-based catalyst, which were the most effective among the metals tested. The catalytic effect is likely due to a combination of hydrogen spillover effect, high contact area between carbon and the hydride, and confinement of the hydride as nano-sized domains in the pores of the carbon matrix. The catalysts were also effective in facilitating rehydrogenation of NaAlH 4 under moderate pressure (75.8 bar H 2) and low temperature (120 °C), when no rehydrogenation would occur without the catalyst. The fact that this new catalyst system is not specific to any hydride offers many potential applications.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2737-2741 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2012 |
Funding
This work was supported by the DOE Hydrogen Program , project number DE-FC36-08GO18136. The authors gratefully thank Professor Mayfair Kung and Nirajan Rajkarnikar for their assistance in experimental apparatus design and LabVIEW data acquisition. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Andrea Sudik in Ford Motor Company for helpful suggestions and technical support. The activated carbon used in this work was kindly provided by Norit Americas.
Keywords
- Carbon
- Catalyst
- Dehydrogenation
- Hydrogen storage
- Sodium aluminum hydride
- Spillover
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Fuel Technology
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology
