Issue 29, 2013

Reducing the dehydrogenation temperature of lithium hydride through alloying with germanium

Abstract

LiH is a highly stable light metal hydride with a hydrogen capacity of 12.5 wt%. However, having a dehydrogenation enthalpy, ΔHdehy, of 181.2 kJ mol−1(H2) and a resultant T(1 bar) of 944 °C, it is not a practical hydride for most hydrogen storage applications. In the work presented here, germanium has been found to dramatically reduce the dehydrogenation temperature for LiH down to just 270 °C. The enthalpy of dehydrogenation was reduced through the formation of lithium germanides. The reaction pathway was identified in this study using in situ powder neutron diffraction, showing the successive formation of more Li-rich germanides, following the series: LiGe, Li4Ge2H, Li9Ge4, and Li7Ge2. The enthalpy of formation for these germanides provides the thermodynamic tuning to reduce the ΔHdehy for the system. The 3LiH–Ge system investigated is found to be reversible with a maximum capacity of 3.0 ± 0.1 wt%.

Graphical abstract: Reducing the dehydrogenation temperature of lithium hydride through alloying with germanium

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Dec 2012
Accepted
02 May 2013
First published
02 May 2013

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013,15, 12139-12146

Reducing the dehydrogenation temperature of lithium hydride through alloying with germanium

M. A. Abbas, D. M. Grant, M. Brunelli, T. C. Hansen and G. S. Walker, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 12139 DOI: 10.1039/C3CP51330K

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