LAUSR

Sluggish sorption kinetics, high decomposition temperature and unsatisfactory cycles of hydrogen release and uptake (reversibility) remain big challenges for using sodium alanate (NaAlH4) as a practical hydrogen storage medium. In solid‐state hydrogen storage materials, especially NaAlH4, finding effective catalysts and using mechanical treatment represent promising solutions to overcome the drawbacks of NaAlH4. For the first time, in this work, the influence of spherical strontium titanate (SrTiO3) on the dehydrogenation behavior of NaAlH4 has been investigated. Here, we report that the onset desorption temperature is decreased and the desorption kinetics of NaAlH4 is enhanced with the addition of 10 wt% of spherical SrTiO3 catalyst. Using Kissinger's technique, the apparent activation energy of the NaAlH4 doped with 10 wt% SrTiO3 composites for the two‐step dehydrogenation was identified as 79 and 92 kJ/mol, which was decreased significantly from that of undoped NaAlH4 (116 and 122 kJ/mol, respectively). Scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the NaAlH4 particle sizes decreased by milling with SrTiO3. X‐ray diffraction results indicated that SrTiO3 did not react or change during the milling and desorption (heating) processes. The improvements in the desorption properties of NaAlH4 resulted from the ability of SrTiO3 to reduce the physical structure of the NaAlH4 during the ball milling process.