Bruno Hessel Silva

• Vicente, Igor S.; Strozi, Renato Belli; Silva, Bruno Hessel; Sartori, Sabrina & Floriano, Ricardo (2026). Toward Low-Cost Metal Hydrides: Ferrovanadium as a Viable Feedstock for TiZrVFeNi-Based Stationary Hydrogen Storage. ACS Applied Energy Materials. doi: 10.1021/acsaem.6c02001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Metal hydride-based hydrogen storage systems are promising for stationary applications; however, the high capital expenditure (CAPEX), largely driven by refined alloying elements, remains a barrier to large-scale deployment. This work investigates substituting high-purity V and Fe with industrial ferrovanadium (FeV80) in dual-phase C14/BCC Ti21Zr21VxFeyNiz alloys. Two representative compositions were produced using high-purity (HP) and low-cost (LC) precursors: a low-vanadium alloy (5 V) and a high-vanadium alloy (14 V). Microstructural and crystallographic characterization confirmed that the LC alloys fully preserved the target dendritic dual-phase configuration and phase balance, proving that industrial impurities below 0.7 wt % do not alter the core metallurgy. At room temperature, the LC alloys exhibited reversible capacities (1.1 wt % for 5 V and 0.7 wt % for 14 V) and cycling stability virtually identical to their HP counterparts, while FeV80 successfully halved the activation incubation time of the 14 V alloy from 1000 to 500 s. Economically, the FeV80 substitution achieved a substantial raw material cost reduction of up to 61.1%, slashing the 14 V alloy price from 66.79 to 25.99 USD/kg. Projecting these experimental values onto a commercial stationary storage case study with a 7.6 kg H2 target demonstrates that under an optimized maximum capacity scenario, the 14 V-LC alloy requires only 481 kg of active material, which represents a 12.5% mass reduction compared to the 550 kg commercial benchmark active bed and a 60.6% reduction in active material cost compared to the HP counterpart. Ultimately, this study establishes industrial-grade ferrovanadium as a strategic, scalable feedstock capable of drastically reducing storage system CAPEX while completely decoupling production costs from functional performance.

• Silva, Bruno Hessel; Jensen, Emil Høj; Girella, Alessandro; Fontana, Gabriel L.B.G.; Floriano, Ricardo & Milanese, Chiara [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2026). Insights on the hydrogen absorption/desorption reactions of a Zr-rich multi-phase alloy. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. ISSN 0360-3199. 210. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.153642. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We investigate the hydrogen sorption reactions evolving in a Zr-rich multi-phase alloy of the Zr-V-Mn-Ni system composed of a Laves C14 phase and Zr-rich secondary phases. We combine computational alloy design, volumetric measurements, structural characterization, thermal measurements, and theoretical calculations to explain the sorption reactions. The alloy is easily hydrogenated at room temperature forming hydrides with different extents of hydrogen per metal ratio. Using Peisl's relation, we estimate the hydrogen amount stored in each phase after sorption processes. The Laves C14 phase absorbs around 1.1 wt% of hydrogen, whereas the secondary phases absorb approximately 0.5 wt% of hydrogen each. All hydrides are stable at room temperature, but the hydride formed by the Laves C14 phase is completely decomposed at 350 °C under dynamic vacuum. In a preliminary cycling attempt, we observe a significant difference in the kinetic absorption behavior, likely associated with changes in the amount of active interphase boundaries.

• Pavlyuk, Volodymyr; Kordan, Vasyl; Zelinska, Oksana; Pavlyuk, Nazar; Dmytriv, Grygoriy & Silva, Bruno Hessel [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2026). Hydrogenation properties of composite materials based on yttrium substituted Mg17Al12. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. ISSN 0925-8388. 1057. doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.186660. Full text in Research Archive
• Mayer, Gabriela C.; Silva, Bruno Hessel; Botta, Walter José & Zepon, Guilherme (2026). Effect of cycling conditions on hydride stability of the Ti ₁₁ Nb ₆₁ Cr ₂₈ alloy. Journal of Materials Chemistry A. ISSN 2050-7488. doi: 10.1039/d5ta08865h. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Hydride destabilization in the Ti 11 Nb 61 Cr 28 alloy is induced by cycling with high-temperature desorption, causing spontaneous hydrogen desorption. This phenomenon is not observed when cycling is performed entirely at room temperature.

• Vicente, Igor S; Andrade, Gaspar; Silva, Bruno Hessel; Ponsoni, Jessica Bruna; Dias, Jeferson Almeida & Zepon, Guilherme [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2025). Exploring the Dual-Phase Configuration of Multicomponent Alloys in the Ti21Zr21VxFeyNiz (x + y + z = 58 at%) System for Room Temperature Hydrogen Storage. Energy & Fuels. ISSN 0887-0624. 39(33), p. 15888–15902. doi: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5c03179. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study investigates the dual-phase configuration of multicomponent alloys (MCAs) within the Ti21Zr21VxFeyNiz (x + y + z = 58 at %) system for hydrogen storage. The design strategy involved the use of the Calculation of Phase Diagrams (CALPHAD) method, which obtained four dual-phase alloys with varying proportions of C14 Laves and body-centered cubic (BCC) phases. All alloys exhibited fast hydrogen absorption kinetics, reaching maximum capacity within 5 min, and demonstrated good hydrogen storage capacity at room temperature. Ti21Zr21Fe41Ni17 (V1), with the lower BCC content (8.2 wt %), absorbed the lowest amount of hydrogen (1.2 wt %), whereas Ti21Zr21V14Fe4.3Ni39.7 (V4) absorbed up to 1.7 wt %. When analyzing the thermodynamics of the alloys, V1 exhibited a superior reversible hydrogen capacity of 0.91 wt % when compared to V4, which retained 0.56 wt %. This behavior is attributed to the thermodynamic stability of the C14 Laves phase, which predominantly governs the absorption characteristics at room temperature, as confirmed by pressure–composition–temperature (PCT) simulations, and to hydrogen retention within the BCC structure.

• Silva, Bruno Hessel; Botta, Walter José & Zepon, Guilherme (2024). Achieving room temperature hydrogen storage reversibility in Nb-rich alloys of the Nb-Cr-Mn system. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. ISSN 0925-8388. 1005. doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2024.176187. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA