Improved dehydrogenation performance of LiBH4 by confinement into porous TiO2 micro-tubes

Abstract

Porous TiO₂ micro-tubes were fabricated by a solvothermal method, and the effect of TiO₂ micro-tubes on the hydrogen desorption properties of LiBH₄ was systematically investigated. It was confirmed that LiBH₄ nanoparticles were successfully incorporated into these TiO₂ scaffolds via a chemical impregnation method. It was revealed by results of TPD, PCT and DSC that both the lowered desorption temperature and improved kinetics of the desorption rate were due to the synergistic effects of nanoconfinement and destabilization of TiO₂. The LiBH₄@2TiO₂ mixture (the preparation mass ratio is 1 : 2) started to release hydrogen at 180 °C, and the apparent activation energy (E_a) had been reduced from 146 kJ mol⁻¹ (pure LiBH₄) to 121.9 kJ mol⁻¹. Moreover, it is interesting that the onset desorption temperature of LiBH₄@3TiO₂ composite was below 100 °C, reduced by about 300 °C compared to that of pure LiBH₄, which was lower than that in most of the current studies about LiBH₄.