Self-foaming, Sintering-resistant Iron-Tungsten Powders Enable High-Cycle Thermochemical Hydrogen Storage

TL;DR

This study introduces Fe-W alloy powders that self-foam during redox cycling, preventing sintering and enabling durable, high-capacity hydrogen storage suitable for scalable, stationary applications.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that adding tungsten to iron powders induces self-foaming during redox cycling, significantly improving sintering resistance and capacity retention in hydrogen storage systems.

Findings

Fe-25W powders self-foam via W gas-phase transport during cycling.

The system achieves 42g H2 storage with over 30 cycles at high capacity utilization.

In-situ X-ray diffraction reveals a self-foaming mechanism involving chemical vapor transport.

Abstract

H2-H2O redox cycling of iron powder beds at 650-800 {\deg}C offers a compact, safe, economical hydrogen storage method, but sintering-induced capacity loss has stalled its scalability for decades. Here, we show that adding redox-active tungsten to Fe powders solves this problem in static powder beds: Fe-25W (at%) alloyed powder self-foams during redox cycling via W gas-phase transport, increasing porosity and preserving capacity. In a custom automated reactor, a kilogram-scale powder bed reversibly stores 42g H2 and sustains 96+/-3% capacity utilization over 30 redox cycles. Temperature-resolved in-situ X-ray diffraction reveals a chemical-vapor-transport-mediated self-foaming mechanism that redistributes W to refine the microstructure, complemented by a contact-barrier stabilization mechanism during high-temperature holds. Partial-capacity cycling up to 90 cycles further confirms sintering resistance under incomplete redox conditions. These results establish Fe-W powder beds as a robust, scalable, and compact platform for safe, stationary hydrogen storage.