Utilization of bituminous coal as adhesive in caking nanocrystalline magnesium for hydrogen storage

摘要

Magnesium has attracted considerable attention as a promising candidate for hydrogen storage duernto the earth-abundant composition and high hydrogen capacity. Unfortunately, MgH_2 is quite stable,rnwhich significantly limits the application. In order to enhance the hydrogen absorption performance,rntremendous efforts have been made to engineer Mg-based materials. Nanocrystalline magnesium hasrnreceived tremendous attention due to its high hydrogen storage performance. However, at present,rnkeeping nanocrystalline structure for Mg still remain a challenge. In this work, we proposed tornprepare hydrogen storage materials by milling of magnesium and bituminous coal and heating themrnat 500 ℃. Bituminous coal can produce plastic mass with a high thermal stability when heated,rnwhich is an excellent adhesive for caking nanocrystalline magnesium. The heat treatmentrntemperature and the relative amount of bituminous coal in the material both influenced hydrogenrnstorage performance. The optimal temperature for the heat treatment was about 500 ℃ and thernoptimal relative amount of bituminous coal was around 20 wt.%. This work will pave a new pathwayrnfor improving the hydrogen storage performance of Mg by keeping the nanocrystalline structure.