Sodium alanate nanoparticles - linking size to hydrogen storage properties

C.P. Baldé, B.P.C. Hereijgers, J.H. Bitter, K.P. de Jong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Important limitations in the application of light metal hydrides for hydrogen storage are slow kinetics and poor reversibility. To alleviate these problems doping and ball-milling are commonly applied, for NaAlH4 leading to particle sizes down to 150 nm. By wet-chemical synthesis we have prepared carbon nanofiber-supported NaAlH4 with discrete particle size ranges of 1-10 μm, 19-30 nm, and 2-10 nm. The hydrogen desorption temperatures and activation energies decreased from 186 °C and 116 kJ · mol-1 for the largest particles to 70 °C and 58 kJ · mol-1 for the smallest particles. In addition, decreasing particle sizes lowered the pressures needed for reloading. This reported size-performance correlation for NaAlH4 may guide hydrogen storage research for a wide range of nanostructured light (metal) hydrides.
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)6761-6765
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume130
Publication statusPublished - 2008

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