## 1 Introduction  
Hydrogen is increasingly recognized as a potential fuel of the future, primarily due to its eco-friendly combustion that does not result in carbon emissions. Despite being a secondary fuel that must be produced and stored using hydrogen storage materials [1; 2], it exhibits significant potential for sustainable energy solutions. The prevalent industrial method for hydrogen production, the steam reforming of natural gas, generates significant carbon dioxide emissions [3], contradicting the goals of low-carbon energy strategies. Electrolysis, when powered by low-carbon energy sources, such as renewable sources, hydroelectric plants, or nuclear plants, offers a low-carbon hydrogen production solution. However, despite advancements in electrolysis technologies, their unit capacity remains somewhat limited. In light of this, research has explored aluminum hydrolysis for hydrogen production. This holds particular applications in low power proton exchange membrane fuel cells, where mechanochemically activated Al composites using bismuth (Bi) and nickel (Ni) as activating compounds have been utilized [4]. An alternative approach to generating sustainable hydrogen involves the oxidation of aluminum in water. This process benefits from the established technologies of the aluminum industry and, unlike electrolysis, does not require distilled water. Oxidizing a kilogram of aluminum in water yields approximately 15.5 MJ of thermal energy and 111 g of hydrogen, with an additional energy potential of 15.5 MJ. A challenge in this process is the formation of an oxide film on the aluminum surface during oxidation, which impedes efficiency [5]. Most of the previous research has been devoted to the search for chemical additives to solve this issue in order to enhance the oxidation rate and the aluminum conversion degree. Previous studies have investigated the use of chemical additives for addressing this issue, including the use of alkalis [6; 7; 8; 9; 10] or salts [11] in aqueous solutions, as well as the activation of aluminum by various metals, silicon, graphite, chlorides, and oxides [12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26]. [PERSON] et al. have demonstrated a unique aluminum corrosion mechanism, which could have promising implications for its use in energy production [27]. Another relevant aspect in the production of hydrogen through aluminum oxidation is the utilization of dopants and alloying additives. Recent research by [PERSON] et al. [28] highlighted the possibility of using a combination of oxidation mediums, ball milling parameters, and copper additives to ensure a fast reaction of aluminum scrap with a high hydrogen yield. In the study by [PERSON] et al., aluminum was alloyed with copper to form an Al-10 wt.% Cu composition. Different milling parameters were tested, including the size of the steel balls (5, 10, and 15 mm), the milling time (1 and 2 h), and the rotation modes. The samples milled with 5 mm (2 h) and 10 mm balls (1 and 2 h) were found to contain undesired intermetallic phases Al\({}_{2}\)Cu and Cu\({}_{9}\)Al\({}_{4}\), while the samples activated with 15 mm balls (1 h) showed the best preservation of the original Cu and Al phases. Furthermore, the study tested various oxidation mediums at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C, including 2M solutions of NaCl, LiCl, KCl, MgCl\({}_{2}\), ZnCl\({}_{2}\), BaCl\({}_{2}\), CaCl\({}_{2}\), NaCl\({}_{2}\), CoCl\({}_{2}\), FeCl\({}_{2}\), and AlCl\({}_{3}\). Of these, AlCl\({}_{3}\) yielded the highest hydrogen production, reaching 91.5%. Different samples with varying Cu dispersity were milled under optimal parameters and tested in AlCl\({}_{3}\). The total hydrogen yields were similar across the samples (\(\sim\)90-94%); however, the reaction rates varied, with the highest rate obtained for the sample modified with 50-70 \(\upmu\)m powder. In contrast to the chemical additive approach, some researchers have proposed a hydrothermal oxidation method for oxidizing non-activated aluminum in pure water [29; 30; 31; 32].