Abstract
Porous Ni nanofibers (NFs) were synthesized via a single-nozzle electrospinning technique with subsequent calcination and reduction. The as-prepared continuous Ni NFs, with a uniform diameter of ∼50 nm and porous structure composed of a myriad of Ni nanocrystallites, were adopted to catalyze MgH2. The homogeneous distribution of Ni nanoparticles (NPs), obtained by ball milling Ni NFs with MgH2, on the surface of MgH2 offered effective catalytic sites to significantly enhance the hydrogen storage properties of MgH2. In particular, 4% Ni NF catalyzed MgH2 (MgH2-4% Ni NFs) starts to release hydrogen at only 143 °C, with a peak temperature of 244 °C, 157 °C and 96 °C lower than for MgH2 catalyzed with as-milled 4% Ni powders (MgH2-4% Ni powders), and it dehydrogenates completely within only 11 min at 325 °C (7.02 wt%). Compared with plain MgH2 and MgH2-4% Ni powders, the activation energy of the as-milled MgH2-4% Ni NF composite is significantly decreased to 81.5 kJ mol-1. © 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 15843-15848 |
| Journal | Journal of Materials Chemistry A |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 31 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Aug 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publication details (e.g. title, author(s), publication statuses and dates) are captured on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis at the time of record harvesting from the data source. Suggestions for further amendments or supplementary information can be sent to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.Funding
This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21271046, 51471053) and the PhD Programs Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (20110071110009). Z. Guo acknowledges funding from a Discovery Project (DP140102858) from the Australian Research Council.
