Integrated design of hydrogen production and thermal energy storage functions of Al-Bi-Cu composite powders

In recent years, the hydrolysis of Al-based composite powders to produce hydrogen has become a hot topic in the field of hydrogen energy research. However, the hydrogen generation products of Al-based alloys have not been reasonably utilized. For this purpose, this study proposed a novel research idea to achieve the integrated design of hydrogen production and thermal energy storage functions of Al-based composite powders. Specif-ically, Al-Bi-Cu composite powders with stable hydrogen production were taken as research objects. The hydrogen was obtained by the reaction of Al-Bi-Cu alloy powders with H2O for different reaction times, and then the hydrogen generation products were directly sintered at high temperature to obtain Al-Cu alloy based composite phase change thermal energy storage materials. The results indicated that at 50 degrees C, the hydrogen yield of Al-Bi-Cu alloy powders in 100min, 200min and 400min are 319.9 mL/g, 428.5 mL/g and 665.8 mL/g, respectively. Importantly, the Al-Cu alloy based composite phase change thermal energy storage materials prepared by the hydrogen generation products exhibited an adjustable phase change temperature (577.3 degrees C -598.2 degrees C), high thermal energy storage density (44.1J/g -153.5J/g), good thermal cycling stability and structural stability.(c) 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.