Systems and methods for producing microcrystalline alpha alane are provided herein. An exemplary process for producing microcrystalline alpha alane includes reacting lithium aluminum hydride and aluminum chloride in a solvent to produce alane etherate, filtering alane etherate from the reactant, combining the filtered alane etherate with a lithium borohydride solution to produce solids that include microcrystalline alane etherate, removing remaining solvent from the solids, creating a slurry from the solids and an aromatic solvent, and heating the slurry to convert the microcrystalline alane etherate to microcrystalline alpha alane.

This disclosure relates to novel metal hydrides, processes for their preparation, and their use in hydrogen storage applications.