Direct Rehydrogenation of LiBH4 from H-Deficient Li2B12H12−x
Yigang Yan,
Hui Wang,
Min Zhu,
Weitong Cai,
Daniel Rentsch,
Arndt Remhof
Affiliations
Yigang Yan
Center for Materials Crystallography (CMC), the Department of Chemistry and the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Hui Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
Min Zhu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
Weitong Cai
School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Daniel Rentsch
Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Arndt Remhof
Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Li2B12H12 is commonly considered as a boron sink hindering the reversible hydrogen sorption of LiBH4. Recently, in the dehydrogenation process of LiBH4 an amorphous H-deficient Li2B12H12−x phase was observed. In the present study, we investigate the rehydrogenation properties of Li2B12H12−x to form LiBH4. With addition of nanostructured cobalt boride in a 1:1 mass ratio, the rehydrogenation properties of Li2B12H12−x are improved, where LiBH4 forms under milder conditions (e.g., 400 °C, 100 bar H2) with a yield of 68%. The active catalytic species in the reversible sorption reaction is suggested to be nonmetallic CoxB (x = 1) based on 11B MAS NMR experiments and its role has been discussed.
