Hydrogen generation by hydrolysis of Sc–Sn alloy over a wide temperature range as low as 0 °C

A series of Sc–Sn alloys are prepared by the arc-melting method and their hydrogen generation performance of hydrolysis in pure water is investigated. It was found that only Sc element reacts with water in Sc–Sn alloy, while Sn element is retained as an elemental metal. The reaction temperature of Sc with water can be reduced below 0 °C after Sc and Sn are alloyed. The Sc3Sn2 alloy has the best hydrogen generation performance. Its hydrogen conversion rate is up to 90% at 0 °C for 100 min as well as when the water temperature dropped from 60 °C to 0 °C, the average conversion rate in the first 30 min only dropped from 19.95 mL/min∙g to 14.31 mL/min∙g. The hydrogen generation performance of Sc–Sn alloys depends on the reaction activity after Sc and Sn alloying, the effect of micro galvanic cells and the solidification microstructure in the alloy ingot.