First-Principles Determination of Crystal Structures, Phase Stability, and Reaction Thermodynamics in the Li-Mg-Al-H Hydrogen Storage System

ORAL

Abstract

First-principles DFT calculations have been used to investigate the crystal structures, thermodynamic stability, and decomposition pathways of Li-Mg-Al-H hydrogen storage compounds. We find that the recently discovered LiMg(AlH$_4)_3$ compound is marginally stable with respect to decomposition into LiAlH$_4$ and Mg(AlH$_4)_2$; however, we also find that LiMg(AlH$_4)_3$ is unstable with respect to H$_2$ release and decomposes exothermically into LiMgAlH$_6$, Al, and H$_2$ in excellent agreement with measurements. Using ICSD crystal structures database, we predict that the hypothetical MgAlH$_5$ compound should assume the orthorhombic BaGaF$_5$ prototype structure. We also discuss that phonon vibrations have sizeable effects on the enthalpies and entropies of hydrogen release reactions of Li-Mg-Al-H compounds.

*This research was supported by the US Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-05ER46253

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Authors

  • Alireza Akbarzadeh

    • California State University Northridge
    • California State University Northridge, Deparment of Physics \& Astronomy, 18111 Northridge, CA 91330-8268

  • Christopher Wolverton

    • Northwestern University Department of Materials Science and Engineering
    • Northwestern University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
    • Northwestern University
    • Northwestern University Materials Science and Engineering

  • Vidvuds Ozolins

    • University of California, Los Angeles
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California Los Angeles
    • UCLA
    • Department of Materials Science \& Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles