Study of the (Ti0,25Nb0,75)Mn2 alloy for hydrogen storage

• Grant number: 23/18049-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Physical Metallurgy
• Principal Investigator: Guilherme Zepon
• Grantee: Felipe Volpato Rosella
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The widespread use of fossil fuels raises concerns in a scenario of increasing energy demand and environmental impacts. Hydrogen presents promising characteristics for a sustainable economy, being an energy carrier that can be produced through water electrolysis using energy obtained from renewable sources, and its combustion results only in water. However, efficient and safe hydrogen storage is still a challenge due to its low volumetric density. Among the existing options, considering gaseous and liquid states, hydrogen storage in the solid state through metal hydrides (MHs) has advantages such as greater safety and higher volumetric density among the methods. Various MH systems are extensively studied, including Laves phases (AB2), which are known to reversibly absorb hydrogen with fast kinetics under moderate temperature and pressure conditions. The design of alloys for hydrogen storage involves empirical and thermodynamic methods for determining monophasic compositions as a simplifying aspect and thermodynamic models for calculating pressure-composition-temperature (PCT) diagrams that are closely related to the application conditions of hydrides. With this in mind, the objective of this scientific initiation research project is to produce, structurally characterize, and evaluate the hydrogen storage properties of an alloy from the (Ti,Nb)Mn2 system with a C14-type Laves phase structure and a composition selected based on design methods, aiming for a monophasic alloy with reversibility at room temperature.