High capacity calcium lithium based hydrogen storage material and method of making the same

The present invention relates generally to nonreversible metal hydrides used to store and release hydrogen. More particularly the present invention relates to nonreversible metal hydrides as a type of hydrogen fuel for use in a variety of design applications. A nonreversible metal hydride for use as a hydrogen fuel. The nonreversible metal hydride is formed from an intermetallic compound having the formula CaLi. The CaLiis formed by melting amounts of elemental lithium and calcium together by induction heating in an argon atmosphere. The CaLiis cooled and crushed into a powder. The alloy powder is subsequently hydrogenated at ambient temperatures or lower. Resulting is a metal hydride having exceptional reactivity to water during hydrolysis due to its nano-crystalline structure. Dehydrogenation of the metal hydride does not regularly occur due to the absorbed hydrogen being chemically bonded to the lithium and calcium. The CaLihydride may be used in a variety of applications as a hydrogen fuel and the CaLialloy may be used as a desiccant for removing moisture from hydrogen or hydrogen containing streams.