A novel AlGa@Gr material for ultrasound enhanced hydrogen generation

Abstract

A novel Al10Ga@5Gr material characterized by micron-sized Al(Ga) solid-solution laminar particles covered by graphene (Gr) was fabricated and then hydrolyzed in a ultrasound accelerated mode as instructed by a new integral idea to obtain high activity-preserved materials and achieve high-rate-persisted hydrogen productions. The results show that the Gr cover not only plays an anti-oxidation role to maintain the hydrolysis activity, but accelerates hydrolysis due to a corrosive micro-galvanic cell effect; ultrasound helps to peel off the surficial Gr and the by-products to maintain a high hydrogen generation rate and hydrogen yield. This work demonstrates that the combination of AlGa@Gr material and ultrasound enhanced hydrolysis is an effective method to break the activation and deactivation tradeoff of aluminum-based hydrolyzing materials.