Mechanochernical synthesis of ultrafine TiAl3 powder and its catalytic effect on dehydrogenation of Li3AlH6

Abstract

Ultrafine TiAl3 powder has been mechanochemically synthesized using a reaction between TiCl3, AlCl3 and Mg. MgCl2 byproduct was removed from the product mixture by dissolving it selectively in distilled water. This ultrafine TiAl3 whose primary particle size is about 100 nm shows a quite good catalytic effect on reducing the dehydrogenation temperature of Li3AlH6. Although its catalytic ability does not exceed well-known titanium chlorides, the inevitable loss in hydrogen storage capacity by introducing catalyst is less with TiAl3 than with TiCl3. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.