Aluminum hydrolysis for hydrogen generation enhanced by sodium hydride

Aluminum is the most abundant and promising material for hydrolytic hydrogen generation . It can be easily transported and stored. However, the oxide protective layer around Al limits its hydrolytic activity and hinders practical applications. To solve this problem, NaH is introduced to form the core-shell structure of Al-based NaH solid fuel powder by a simple hand mixing method in an open lab environment. The new core-shell structure of Al-based NaH solid fuel powder showed the best hydrolytic performance among Al-based materials and produced 98 % hydrogen yield at a 1 to 0.9 M ratio of NaH and Al in water. The hydrolytic activity consists of NaH hydrolytic splitting and Al hydrolysis. XRD and SEM analysis confirmed that NaH is the key to supporting complete Al hydrolysis and attaining maximum yield as compared to calcium hydride. Our research endorsed the practical implementation of inexpensive and transportable hydrolytic hydrogen generation materials and offered a new idea for the design of hydrolytic hydrogen generation materials for further development.