Semisolid Al–Ga composites fabricated at room temperature for hydrogen generation

Abstract

Usually, Al–Ga alloys are prepared by heating materials to hundreds of degrees for a long time, and the alloys obtained are in the solid state. Although some Ga-rich liquid Al–Ga composites have been developed lately, the mass percentage of Al is small, due to which the hydrogen generation rate and efficiency are limited. Besides, an alkaline solution is indispensable in these studies, which is also a limitation. In this paper, a semisolid Al–Ga composite has been fabricated by mixing liquid gallium and fragmented aluminium foils at room temperature, which is an effective means to generate hydrogen from pure water. With the increase in the Al proportion, the mixture changes from a liquid to a cement-like semisolid material morphologically. Furthermore, an application of the fuel cell taking advantage of the hydrogen released from the composites is given. This method does not require a high-temperature device and only requires water to produce hydrogen once the semisolid Al–Ga composite material is fabricated. Therefore, this is a new approach for making more portable and safer devices for hydrogen production.