Enhanced dehydrogenation performance of LiBH4 by confinement in porous NiMnO3 microspheres

The dehydrogenation behavior of LiBH4 has been investigated when confined into porous NiMnO3 microsphere via a wet chemical impregnation method. The confinement of LiBH4 in the pores of NiMnO3 nanoparticles leads to a significant decrease of the onset and the maximum desorption temperatures. The composites begin to release hydrogen at 150 °C and the maximum desorption temperature is 300 °C, which are much lower compared to the raw LiBH4. Also, the hydrogen release amount is found to be increased. Moreover, the LiBH4@NiMnO3 composites exhibit excellent dehydrogenation kinetics, with 2.8 wt% hydrogen released in 1 h at 300 °C. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to deduce the desorption mechanism of NiMnO3.