Paving the way for cheaper mass production of hydrogen fuel. engineering
, the team of researchers reveals how they produced a cheap composite of gallium and aluminum to create aluminum nanoparticles that react rapidly with water to produce large amounts of hydrogen.
After the reaction, which according to the researchers"yields 90% of the hydrogen that could theoretically be produced from reaction of all the aluminum in the composite", the gallium can be easily recovered for reuse."We don't need any energy input, and it bubbles hydrogen like crazy. I've never seen anything like it," said UCSC Chemistry Professor Scott Oliver.
So, not only does the gallium dissolve the aluminum oxide, it also separates the aluminum into nanoparticles."The gallium separates the nanoparticles and keeps them from aggregating into larger particles," "People have struggled to make aluminum nanoparticles, and here we are producing them under normal atmospheric pressure andThe researchers say the composite for their method can be easily made using readily available sources of aluminum, including used foil and cans.