Catalytic generation of hydrogen by applying fluorinated-metal hydrides as catalysts

Abstract.

Metal–hydrogen complexes such as NaAlH₄, KBH₄, and NaBH₄ are known as high H-content materials. The highly reactive natures of these materials against moist air and water can be easily stabilized in aqueous KOH and NaOH solutions. Accordingly, it is required to develop catalysts suitable for generating hydrogen from the stabilized metal–hydrogen complexes in alkaline solutions.

This work is aimed at develo** catalysts that can generate hydrogen from such solutions with considerably high kinetics under moderate temperature and pressure conditions.

We have found that Mg₂Ni, a typical high-temperature hydriding alloy, exhibits excellent functions as a catalyst for the hydrolysis of BH₄ ^--ion-containing solutions. The fluorination-treatment (F-treatment) effects on granular particles of Mg₂Ni and Mg₂NiH₄ are reported in this paper.