Laser fragmentation of metal powders suspended in water for hydrogen generation

Abstract

The hydrogen production by laser induced fragmentation of metal powders suspended in water is investigated. Powders of metals such as Al, Mg and three Al-Mg alloys were suspended in distillated water and subjected to laser irradiation to promote a displacement chemical reaction of hydrogen from water. All the studied powders under laser irradiation produced H2 and the volume rise as a function of the laser fluence, amount of powder and irradiation time following linear behavior. This on-demand production of hydrogen could be an option to release the hydrogen contained in water (H2O) in situ. Using this configuration, a maximum hydrogen generation rate close to 1.7 mL/min is obtained. © 2022 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.