Reversible hydrogen storage properties of LiBH4 combined with hydrogenated Mg11CeNi alloy

• The hydrogenated Mg11CeNi alloy can be used as an effective destabilizer for LiBH4.
• Dehydrogenation of the LiBH4/Mg11CeNi hydride system proceeds mainly in two steps.
• Mg, Mg2Ni and CeH2 are working together to destabilize LiBH4.
• LiBH4, MgH2, Mg2NiH4 and CeH2 can be regenerated upon rehydrogenation.

The hydrogenated Mg11CeNi alloy was utilized as a destabilizer to combine with LiBH4 in this paper. It was found that thermal dehydrogenation of the LiBH4/Mg11CeNi hydride system with a molar ratio of 17:2.5 proceeds in two-step reactions: one initiates at around 280 °C with about 4.0 wt.% of hydrogen released from MgH2 and Mg2NiH4, and the other occurs in the temperature range 350–425 °C that can be assigned to the decomposition of LiBH4 co-destabilized by Mg2Ni, CeH2 and Mg. These two-step dehydrogenation reactions for the LiBH4/Mg11CeNi hydride system are partially reversible, and about 4.9 wt.% of hydrogen can be reloaded at 400 °C under an initial hydrogen pressure of 9 MPa.