Ammonia borane destabilized by aluminium hydride: A mutual enhancement for hydrogen release

Abstract Destabilized by aluminum hydride, the dehydrogenation properties of ammonia borane (AB) can be improved significantly, including enhanced dehydrogenation kinetics, reduced induction period and suppressed formation of volatile byproducts. Furthermore, a lowered dehydrogenation temperature was also achieved for AlH 3 , indicating a mutual dehydrogenation enhancement for both AB and AlH 3 in this mixture. The destabilized sample, 3AB/AlH 3 ,can totally release more than 12 wt% of high-pure hydrogen (>99 wt%) without any detectable by-products below 250 °C. Mechanism investigations indicated that the mutual dehydrogenation enhancement in the mixture is attributed to the Coulombic attraction between the hydridic H δ− in AlH 3 and the protonic H δ+ in the NH 3 group of AB.