J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2024, Vol. 173: 63-71.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2023.07.020

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Reactive destabilization and bidirectional catalyzation for reversible hydrogen storage of LiBH4 by novel waxberry-like nano-additive assembled from ultrafine Fe3O4 particles

S. Wanga,1, M.H. Wub,1, Y.Y. Zhuc,*, Z.L. Lid, Y.X. Yangd, Y.Z. Lie, H.F. Liub, M.X. Gaob,*   

  1. aDepartment of Material Science, Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen 518172, China;
    bState Key Laboratory of Silicon and Advanced Semiconductor Materials & School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China;
    cInstitute of Resources Utilization and Rare Earth Development, State Key Laboratory of Rare Metals Separation and Comprehensive Utilization, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Development and Application, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China;
    dInstitute of Science and Technology for New Energy, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710021, China;
    eNational Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
  • Received:2023-06-04 Revised:2023-07-02 Accepted:2023-07-08 Published:2024-02-20 Online:2023-08-21
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: yongyangzhu2016@163.com (Y.Y. Zhu), gaomx@zju.edu.cn (M.X. Gao).
  • About author:1These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: LiBH4 containing 18.5 wt.% H2 is an attractive high-capacity hydrogen storage material, however, it suffers from high operation temperature and poor reversibility. Herein, a novel and low-cost bifunctional additive, waxberry-like Fe3O4 secondary nanospheres assembled from ultrafine primary Fe3O4 nanoparticles, is synthesized, which exhibits significant destabilization and bidirectional catalyzation towards (de)hydrogenation of LiBH4. With an optimized addition of 30 wt.% waxberry-like Fe3O4, the system initiated dehydrogenation below 100 °C and released a total of 8.1 wt.% H2 to 400 °C. After 10 cycles, a capacity retention of 70% was achieved, greatly superior to previously reported oxides-modified systems. The destabilizing and catalyzing mechanisms of waxberry-like Fe3O4 on LiBH4 were systematically analyzed by phase and microstructural evolutions during dehydrogenation and hydrogenation cycling as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The present work provides new insights in developing advanced nano-additives with unique structural and multifunctional designs towards LiBH4 hydrogen storage.

Key words: LiBH4, Hydrogen storage, Waxberry-like Fe3O4, Destabilization, Catalysis