Self-foaming Fe-Sn Powder Beds for Durable Hydrogen Storage and Release

Self-foaming Fe-Sn Powder Beds for Durable Hydrogen Storage and Release | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Self-foaming Fe-Sn Powder Beds for Durable Hydrogen Storage and Release Dingchang Zhang, Jie Qi, David Dunand This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015121/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Hydrogen storage and release via redox cycling of oxide-metal powders offers advantages in safety and scalability as compared to pressurized tanks, but long-term storage capacity loss due to sintering and densification of powder beds remains a major challenge. In this work, we demonstrate that a transient liquid-phase swelling effect, triggered by the addition of a low-melting element to a high-melting powder bed, can effectively preserve powder-bed porosity and reactive surface area during extended redox cycling. By incorporating up to 40 at. % Sn into Fe powder beds, we induce a self-foaming behavior that counteracts powder densification and enables stable hydrogen storage/release performance over 50 redox cycles at 650 ºC. In situ X-ray diffraction and thermodynamic analysis reveal that both the added Sn and the resulting Fe-Sn intermetallic phase undergo reversible transformations throughout cycling, helping maintain high hydrogen storage/release capacity. Microstructural analysis shows that the continuous formation of “liquid-depletion porosity” at former Sn powder sites and the volumetric expansion of solid particles from imbalanced diffusion contribute to the retention of a porous architecture. This strategy achieves a hydrogen capacity of up to 261 mL/g, which is 22 times higher than that of pure Fe after 50 redox cycles. It provides a new materials design approach for durable metal/oxide systems in hydrogen storage, with other potential applications in solar thermochemical water splitting, carbon dioxide utilization,and chemical looping technologies. Physical sciences/Materials science Physical sciences/Engineering Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. A provisional patent application covering this work has been filed by Northwestern University (U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/830,599), with D.Z. and D.C.D. as inventors and applicants. DCD discloses a financial interest in IROX Inc. (USA), which is applying iron-based powders to various redox scenarios. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInfo02.27.26.docx SUPPLEMENTARY Info Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9015121","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":599745878,"identity":"44c704af-8047-4cf8-a8f9-7e0fd6438c88","order_by":0,"name":"Dingchang Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0296-9504","institution":"Northwestern University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dingchang","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":599745879,"identity":"5bc19d7d-e32e-41ae-a6fa-8074c9484507","order_by":1,"name":"Jie Qi","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6866-6384","institution":"The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jie","middleName":"","lastName":"Qi","suffix":""},{"id":599745880,"identity":"f50388f0-a86d-448a-9a01-ac771f69b034","order_by":2,"name":"David Dunand","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5476-7379","institution":"Northwestern University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Dunand","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-03 03:00:55","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015121/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015121/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104402783,"identity":"67c55ac5-f06d-4269-a1d2-7ce45e837269","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:16:26","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1653365,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SelffoamingFeSn03.02.26withoutformatting.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9015121/v1_covered_28ef930a-a64b-4b73-90b9-46e85557e3da.pdf"},{"id":103886311,"identity":"0d888fab-9de6-4e5d-9e8f-e794dfdd70af","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 07:01:26","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":16195390,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"SUPPLEMENTARY Info","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInfo02.27.26.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9015121/v1/55d36c259f952fc33760d669.docx"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nA provisional patent application covering this work has been filed by Northwestern University (U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/830,599), with D.Z. and D.C.D. as inventors and applicants. 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In this work, we demonstrate that a transient liquid-phase swelling effect, triggered by the addition of a low-melting element to a high-melting powder bed, can effectively preserve powder-bed porosity and reactive surface area during extended redox cycling. By incorporating up to 40 at. % Sn into Fe powder beds, we induce a self-foaming behavior that counteracts powder densification and enables stable hydrogen storage/release performance over 50 redox cycles at 650 ºC. In situ X-ray diffraction and thermodynamic analysis reveal that both the added Sn and the resulting Fe-Sn intermetallic phase undergo reversible transformations throughout cycling, helping maintain high hydrogen storage/release capacity. Microstructural analysis shows that the continuous formation of “liquid-depletion porosity” at former Sn powder sites and the volumetric expansion of solid particles from imbalanced diffusion contribute to the retention of a porous architecture. This strategy achieves a hydrogen capacity of up to 261 mL/g, which is 22 times higher than that of pure Fe after 50 redox cycles. 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