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Prof. Deng got his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Wuhan University in 1985 and 1988, and obtained his Ph.D. degree of Science in Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1993 and Ph.D...
Do You Know That Aluminum Can Be Used As a Hydrogen Source for Fuel Cells?
6 Aug, 2007 11:35 am
Metal Al has been widely used in industry and daily life because of its light weight and good oxidation resistance. However, recent findings by Zhen-Yan Deng et al. show that metal Al powder could completely react with water and generate hydrogen at room temperature under atmospheric pressure after surface modifications; this opens a new, cost-efficient way of supplying hydrogen for portable fuel cells.
Deng et al. used a simple ceramic processing procedure to modify the surfaces of Al powder and found that modified Al powder could completely react with water and generate 4.8 wt% H2 under ambient condition. Aluminum is cheaper in comparison to other hydrides and requires no expensive catalysts in order to react with water. Therefore, the modified aluminum powder is a more economically viable material to generate hydrogen for the use of portable fuel cells. This will make fuel cells a more practical and realistic option in many applications.
Moreover, Deng et al. also found that pure Al powder could completely react with water and generate 3.7 wt% H2 at a temperature of above 40°C under a low vacuum at 0.03 atmospheric pressure. This will also be a promising choice for fuel cell bus' or other large vehicles to use cheap pure Al powder as a hydrogen source, because it is possible and affordable to add a vacuum pump in them.
References:
1) Zhen-Yan Deng, et al. Physicochemical Mechanism for the Continuous Reaction of -Al2O3 Modified Al Powder with Water, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 90[5]?2007) 1521526.
2) Zhen-Yan Deng, et al. Temperature Effect on Hydrogen Generation by the Reaction of -Al2O3-Modified Al Powder with Distilled Water, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 88 [10] 2975977 (2005).
3) Zhen-Yan Deng, et al. Modification of Al Particle Surfaces by -Al2O3 and Its Effect on the Corrosion Behavior of Al, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 88 [4] 97779 (2005).
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As I have not seen anything concerning it since, I thought the subject was not as use as they thought.
Cleve D. LeClair
Please forward and othe info to:
lcleve@uswest.net
[Response] We have no any show in Eugene, so I don't know the exact material what you commented on. The current storage level of hydrogen storage materials is ~ 1 mass% H2 under the conditions of 1-10 bars and 0-100 degree C. Our Al-hydrogen technology can produce ~3.7 mass% H2 at a temperature of above 40 degree C under a low vacuum at 0.03 bar; in the practical application, considering other factors, ~ 3 mass% H2 should be reached. Therefore, a normal fuel-cell car can run 400 km using ~ 133 kg of our Al + water mixture (the data of fuel cell car can be found in L. Schlapbach et al., Nature 414 (2001) 353.)