Artículos de Revista en Ingeniería · 2026
Enhanced hydrogen storage properties of magnesium hydride using a KH-TiO2-Nb2O5/carbon-coated nickel nanoparticles catalyst
Magnesium hydride (MgH₂) is a promising hydrogen-storage material, but its slow sorption kinetics and high thermodynamic stability continue to limit practical implementation. In this work, we demonstrate an original and scalable approach to enhance MgH₂ performance by employing a catalyst prepared entirely from commercially available powders (KH, TiO₂, and Nb₂O₅), combined with commercial carbon-coated Ni nanoparticles (C@Ni). Unlike MXene-based catalysts widely reported in the literature, our catalyst system avoids complex and hazardous synthesis steps and enables industrially scalable processing. Two incorporation routes (one-step ball milling and a two-step mixing strategy) were evaluated. The catalyst decreased the dehydrogenation onset temperature from 321 ◦C to below 236 ◦C and reduced the activation energy from 152 to 93.8 kJ⋅mol⁻¹ . The optimized material exhibited fast hydrogen desorption (6.38 wt% in 10 min at 300 ◦C) and a low-temperature absorption (5.77 wt% at 150 ◦C and 3.47 wt% at 75 ◦C), a performance not previously reported for catalyst systems derived solely from commercial precursors. Moderate cycling stability was also achieved, retaining approximately 79% capacity after 20 cycles. These results highlight the originality and practical relevance of a catalyst design strategy that enables high-performance MgH₂-based hydrogen storage without the need for laboratory-specific or non-scalable synthesis routes.