Power generation from solid aluminum

Abstract

A fuel for splitting water into hydrogen and an oxide component comprises a substantially solid pellet formed from a solid-like mixture of a solid-state source material capable of oxidizing in water to form hydrogen and a passivation surface layer of the oxide component, and a passivation preventing agent that is substantially inert to water in an effective amount to prevent passivation of the solid-state material during oxidation. The pellets are brought into contact with an alloy of the passivation preventing agent having a melting point temperature below that of the solid-like mixture to initiate the hydrogen-producing reaction at a lower temperature.

1 . A fuel for producing hydrogen from water, comprising a solid-like mixture including solid aluminum and gallium, wherein the solid-like mixture reacts with water to produce hydrogen gas and an aluminum oxide component. 
     
     
         2 . The fuel of  claim 1 , wherein the solid-like mixture comprises gallium within a solid aluminum matrix. 
     
     
         3 . The fuel of  claim 1 , further comprising gallium in grain boundaries in the solid-like mixture. 
     
     
         4 . The fuel of  claim 1 , wherein the solid-like mixture is substantially free of a macroscopic liquid phase. 
     
     
         5 . The fuel of  claim 1 , wherein the solid-like mixture comprises pellets. 
     
     
         6 . The fuel of  claim 5 , wherein the pellets are rod shaped. 
     
     
         7 . The fuel of  claim 1 , wherein the solid-like mixture comprises a non-equilibrium mixture. 
     
     
         8 . The fuel of  claim 1 , further comprising indium. 
     
     
         9 . The fuel of  claim 8 , further comprising tin. 
     
     
         10 . The fuel of  claim 1 , wherein the solid-like mixture comprises up to about 95% aluminum. 
     
     
         11 . The fuel of  claim 10 , further comprising indium. 
     
     
         12 . The fuel of  claim 11 , further comprising tin. 
     
     
         13 . The fuel of  claim 1 , wherein when the solid-like mixture comes in contact with water, the gallium of the solid-like mixture prevents passivation of the aluminum during oxidation to aluminum oxide.