Activated aluminum fuel
AssigneeLtag Systems LLC
InventorJonathan Thurston Slocum
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Aluminum can be used as a fuel source when reacted with water if its native surrounding oxide coating is penetrated with a gallium-based eutectic. When discrete aluminum objects are treated in a heated bath of eutectic, the eutectic penetrates the oxide coating. After the aluminum objects are treated, the aluminum objects can be reacted in a reactor to produce hydrogen which can, for example, react with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity, for use in a variety of applications.
Claims16
A method of fabricating activated aluminum reactable to produce hydrogen, the method comprising:
- exposing a cold worked aluminum object to a eutectic alloy including indium and gallium, wherein, prior to exposing the cold worked aluminum object to the eutectic alloy, the cold worked aluminum object contains greater than 87 percent, by mass, of a plastically deformed and non-recrystallized aluminum alloy, and the cold worked aluminum object includes a high energy grain boundary having an energy greater than about 0.5 J/m2;
- through disruptions in an aluminum oxide layer on an outer surface of the cold worked aluminum object, diffusing the eutectic alloy from the outer surface of the cold worked aluminum object into a volume of the cold worked aluminum object;
- and
- recovering at least a portion of the eutectic alloy from the aluminum oxide layer on the outer surface of the cold worked aluminum object.
A method of fabricating activated aluminum reactable to produce hydrogen, the method comprising:
- heating a bath of a eutectic alloy of gallium and indium to about 100-200 degrees C.;
- placing a cold worked aluminum object having a temperature below 100 degrees C. into the bath, wherein, prior to placing the cold worked aluminum object into the bath, the cold worked aluminum object contains greater than 87 percent, by mass, of a plastically deformed and non-recrystallized aluminum alloy, and the cold worked aluminum object includes a high energy grain boundary having an energy greater than about 0.5 J/m2;
- leaving the cold worked aluminum object in the bath for a predetermined time for the eutectic alloy to penetrate an aluminum oxide layer on an outer surface of the cold worked aluminum object and wet grain boundaries with the eutectic alloy into a volume of the cold worked aluminum object;
- and
- removing the cold worked aluminum object with the wetted grain boundaries from the bath.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.