Aluminum Trihydride - Alane
Team discovers way to make alane a better hydrogen fuel option for vehicles.
“Alane is great because it meets all of the criteria put forth by the Department of Energy for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for energy capacity, weight, system temperature, and cost” said Vitalij Pecharsky … Professor of Materials Science. “Aluminum is cheap, hydrogen is abundant [… but f]or the longest time it’s been considered impossible to use for vehicle applications” ..
Researchers paired the predictive advantages of computational analysis with physical experiment to tackle the applied materials challenge. Along with titanium catalyst dopants and hydrogen, theorists looked at vacancy defects, or missing aluminum, on the surface of aluminum powders and established that this combination working in concert is critical to the low-energy formation of alane. Because such defects can be produced by ball milling to break up mechanically the atomic structure of the metal, experimentalists ball-milled aluminum powders in combination with hydrogen and titanium, and they confirmed the prediction by producing AlH3, or alane. The process used significantly less pressure, only about 5,000 PSI (or 30 times less pressure), to create alane than that needed for equilibrium methods.
Ardica specializes in the production of Alane, a highly stable, extremely lightweight hydrogen powder now used by a select set of customers in industrial and military applications. The U.S. Army has been working closely with Ardica for many years to test Alane’s superior ability to power a wide range of mobile and vehicular applications. By replacing traditional batteries, Alane greatly reduces weight and extends operations while increasing the safety and efficiency of the soldiers.
The U.S. Army chose Alane because it can be stored, shipped, stocked, and accessed easily. Alane does not lose its energy potential over time and is unaffected by temperature variations. It does not require massive capital investment to develop new infrastructure, and can be recycled and regenerated”