Aluminum-Based Batteries?

Aluminum hydride , also known as alane, is a high capacity hydrogen storage material that may hold the key to developing a whole class of advanced storage materials.

Researchers at the Savannah River National Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , have developed a novel closed cycle for producing aluminum hydride.  The process may offer a cost-effective method of regenerating the hydrogen-storing material in a way that allows it to repeatedly release and recharge its hydrogen.

The process makes the hydride via an electrochemical method, and regenerates the starting material directly with hydrogen.   The SRNL team discovered novel ways to facilitate separation and formation of aluminum hydride that also apply to the formation of other complex metal hydrides and have the potential to cost-effectively regenerate other high capacity hydrogen storage materials. The SRNL results are expected to accelerate the development of a whole class of similar materials needed for hydrogen, batteries and other energy storage applications. In addition, this work will significantly impact other fields including those of thin films, adduct based syntheses, and the recycling and regeneration of other materials.