Improved dehydrogenation of LiBH₄ supported on nanoscale SiO₂ via liquid phase method

A wet loading method was developed to produce nano-sized LiBH₄ combined with nano-SiO₂ templates. The multicomponent LiBH₄/SiO₂ material synthesized by the wet method has been found to dehydrogenate at much lower temperatures than the pure LiBH₄, as well as LiBH₄/SiO₂ mixtures prepared by ball milling. For example, the onset of dehydrogenation was decreased to about 200 °C for a wet-treated LiBH₄/SiO₂ mixture with a mass ratio of 1:1, and the majority of the hydrogen could be released below 350 °C. The improved dehydrogenation of the wet-treated LiBH₄/SiO₂ mixtures can be attributed to the destabilization of SiO₂, resulting in the formation of lithium metasilicate (Li₂SiO₃) upon heating, and the confinement of LiBH₄ to form nanoscale particles.