A New Method for Generating Hydrogen from Water

A new method for generating hydrogen by the reaction of Al powder with water using iodine as additive is developed. I2 can penetrate through the surface oxide layer on aluminium to form AlI3. High solubility of AlI3 in water is benefited to activate Al surface. It is found that the production of hydrogen becomes significant above 60°C and obeys a logarithm rule. The pH value varies from 5 to 3 then back to 4.5 during the reaction, which is determined mainly by the kinetics of hydration reaction of AlI3 and the reaction of Al and HI produced spontaneously.