Aluminum is a highly energy dense material that can enable simple and safe hydrogen generation when reacted with water. We present a method for activating cold-worked non-recrystallized bulk aluminum objects (aluminum bbs) by surface treatment with a heated gallium-indium (Ga-In) eutectic melt. Afterwards, the activated aluminum can be reacted with water to generate hydrogen gas, heat and aluminum oxihydroxide. The elevated temperature of the eutectic melt during treatment allows the Ga-In to efficiently penetrate the aluminums’ plastically strained grain boundaries, causing liquid metal embrittlement and activation of the aluminum. This unique method of activation produces a highly reactive aluminum fuel using only 3–4 wt% Ga-In eutectic which can then be reacted with water in a controllable manner. The surface treatment time, temperature of the melt, and composition of the melt were varied and the effects on hydrogen yields were compared. It was found that the addition of temperature, sufficient time in the melt, and gallium/indium ratio were key to activation efficiency. The activated aluminum was then tested in a small-scale hydrogen generator, which steadily and controllably produced nearly 94% of expected hydrogen yield using less than 4% gallium-indium eutectic for activation.

铝是一种高能量密度的材料，与水反应后可以简单而安全地产生氢。我们提出了一种通过用加热的镓铟（Ga-In）共晶熔体进行表面处理来激活冷加工的未重结晶的块状铝物体（铝bbs）的方法。然后，活化的铝可以与水反应生成氢气，热量和氢氧化铝。在处理过程中，共晶熔体的高温使Ga-In有效地穿透了铝的塑性应变晶界，从而引起液态金属脆化和铝的活化。这种独特的活化方法仅使用3-4 wt％的Ga-In共晶物即可产生高反应性的铝燃料，然后可控地使其与水反应。表面处理时间 改变熔体的温度和熔体的组成，并比较其对氢产率的影响。已经发现，温度的增加，熔体中足够的时间以及镓/铟的比例是活化效率的关键。然后在小型氢气发生器中测试了活化的铝，该发生器使用少于4％的镓铟共晶进行活化，稳定且可控制地产生了将近94％的预期氢产率。