Hydrolytic Hydrogen Production on Al⁻Sn⁻Zn Alloys Processed by High-Pressure Torsion

Fan Zhang; Kaveh Edalati; Makoto Arita; Zenji Horita

doi:10.3390/ma11071209

Hydrolytic Hydrogen Production on Al⁻Sn⁻Zn Alloys Processed by High-Pressure Torsion

Materials (Basel). 2018 Jul 13;11(7):1209. doi: 10.3390/ma11071209.

Authors

Fan Zhang¹, Kaveh Edalati², Makoto Arita³, Zenji Horita^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China. zhangf416@gmail.com.
² WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan. kavedalati@gmail.com.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan. arita@zaiko.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
⁴ WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan. horita@zaiko.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan. horita@zaiko.kyushu-u.ac.jp.

Abstract

Aluminium-tin-based alloys with different compositions were synthesized by a high-pressure torsion (HPT) method. The effect of different alloying elements and processing routes on the hydrogen generation performance of the alloys was investigated. The results show that Zn can enhance the hydrogen generation rate and yield by promoting pitting corrosion. The highest reactivity in water was achieved for an Al-30wt %Sn-10wt %Zn alloy. Detailed analysis of the Al-30wt %Sn-10wt %Zn alloy shows that increasing the shear strain and the resultant formation of ultrafine grains and phase mixing enhance the hydrogen generation rate through the effects of both nanogalvanic cells and pitting corrosion.

Keywords: high-pressure torsion (HPT); hydrogen production; hydrolysis; severe plastic deformation (SPD); ultrafine-grained (UFG) structure.