Improved dehydrogenation performance of LiAlH4 doped with BaMnO3

Due to its high gravimetric capacity of hydrogen (10.5 wt%), LiAlH4 has been regarded as a promising material for solid-state hydrogen storage material for onboard usage. However, high decomposition temperature, poor kinetics and irreversibility retard its application. To counter this problem, various weight percentages of BaMnO3 are introduced into the LiAlH4 system as an additive in this work. As a result, the starting hydrogen release of LiAlH4 was reduced to 109-115 degrees C and the second desorption temperature occurred at around 134-158 degrees C, much lower than pure LiAlH4. The isothermal desorption kinetics also proved that faster desorption kinetics can be observed at 90 degrees C for 80 min. About 2.00-2.60 wt% of H-2 could be desorbed by the composite, whereas only <1.00 wt% of H-2 was desorbed by undoped LiAlH4. Additionally, adding BaMnO3 reduced the activation energies by 30 kJ/mol for the first stages and 34 kJ/mol for the second stages. Based on the X-ray diffraction result, the active species formed of MnO2 and Ba or Ba-containing materials are believed to be responsible for the noticeable enhancement in the desorption properties of LiAlH4.