Abstract
To reduce the carbon footprint associated with the production of hydrogen storage materials and to reduce their cost, we pursue the possibility of obtaining high-quality hydride-based materials from industrial metals waste. In particular, in this manuscript, we propose a method for obtaining high-quality NaAlH4, starting from the Al-based automotive recycled alloy DIN-GDAlSi10Mg(Cu). The hydrogen storage properties of the material obtained by ball milling NaH and DIN-GDAlSi10Mg(Cu) under a hydrogen atmosphere were comprehensively explored via a broad range of experimental techniques, e.g. volumetric analysis, ex situ X-ray diffraction (XRD), in situ synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction (SR-PXD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and differential thermal analysis (DTA). These investigations show that NaAlH4 was successfully synthesized and that its properties are comparable with those of high-purity commercial NaAlH4.