LAUSR

Abstract Lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH 4 ) is a promising hydrogen storage material with a storage capacity of 10.6 mass % H 2 . However, its practical use is hampered by the lack of direct rehydrogenation routes. In this study, we report on the confinement of LiAlH 4 into the nanoporosity of a high surface area graphite resulting in a remarkable improvement of its hydrogen storage properties. Nanoconfined LiAlH 4 started hydrogen desorption near 135 °C and after full dehydrogenation at 300 °C limited rehydrogenation was observed at the same temperature and 7 MPa of hydrogen pressure. Rehydrogenation took place through the formation of Li 3 AlH 6 with some limited rehydrogenation back to LiAlH 4 indicating the existence of different (de)hydrogenation paths upon nanoconfinement as compared to the known dehydrogenation path of bulk LiAlH 4 .