Wet Synthesis of Energetic Aluminum Hydride

Abstract Aluminum hydride (alane, AlH 3 ) is a promising candidate material for solid propulsion, explosives and beyond, particularly in the aerospace field due to its high energetic capacity. This study attempted to produce a stable alane structure through a wet chemical synthesis process. Preliminary dissolution of starting reactants in ether produced a consistent crystal structure (cubic shape) and elemental constituents analogous to the theoretical composition. The chemical structure, when examined by XRD, matched well with the standard reference α‐type alane, and the resulting particle size of the precipitated α‐type alane ranged from 7 to 13 μm. A pivotal step in the alane synthesis was selective crystallization from the liquid phase alane−etherate (AlH 3 ⋅ (Et 2 O) n ), followed by acid treatment of the precipitated particulate alanes using an appropriately mixed solution.