Superior hydrogen production rate by corrosion of recycled aluminum alloys: Feeding a PEM fuel cell
Mahdieh Safyari, Artenis Bendo, Masoud Moshtaghi
Abstract
Aluminum is one of the most versatile materials for the dynamic global economy due to its mechanical properties, recyclability, and lightweight. The production of hydrogen from aluminum via hydrolysis in alkaline media offers another advantage of it. Recycling the post-consumer aluminum scraps leads to the formation of some undesirable intermetallic particles which are not only detrimental to mechanical properties but also to repeated recycling. In this study, the hydrolysis performance of a recycled aluminum alloy was compared with that of the primarily produced one. The results showed that the Mg solutes at the grain boundaries (GBs), Fe-containing and Mg2Si particles, stress concentration around the GBs, and thickness of the passive layer can affect the hydrogen generation rate of the specimens. The specimens were also tested in a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell to evaluate their hydrogen generation performance. The recycled aluminum alloy that can increase the hydrogen yield significantly increases the power of PEMFC.