Hydrogen storage in thin film metal hydrides

Thin Film Hydrogen Storage System

“…This kind of arrangement has been demonstrated and used by Bucur and Franagan (1974) and Wenzl et al (1982Wenzl et al ( , 1983. In this type of thickness monitor the sample in the form of thin film is simultaneously deposited on to the quartz crystal whose frequency change 6£ during film deposition and hydrogen absorption is determined and is l~nearly related to the deposited mass b. m by the relation (Sauerbrey, 1959) The effect of hydrogen absorption on the electrical resistivity of LaNi 5 and MmNi 4 5 MnO.5 films (Mm Mish Metal) were extensively studied by Adadhi et·al.…”

“…The hydriding and dehydriding rates drop to zero (Wenzl et al, 1983) in case of vanadium films within seconds if samples are exposed to oxygen partial pressure of more than 10-7 mbar. Thin palladium overlayers, however, provide a very effective protection against this 'poisioning' effect.…”

“…Uchida and Fromm (1983) had studied the hydrogen absorption rate of 15 -20 nm thick films of titanium, tantalum, tungsten, iron and palladium at room temperature and hydrogen pressure between 10-9 to 10-4 mbar. Recently investigations have been carried out by Wenzl et al (1983) on vanadium films and also using Al (20 p.m/Pd 000 nm)/V 00 p..m)/Pd (100 nm) films for prototype hydrogen storage containers. They found that the vanadium films can be hydrided almost reversibly from the gas phase within seconds to VHO 5 at 300 K and a hydrogen pressure of 1 bar and within 1 minute to VHi 8 and a hydrogen pressure of 30 bar.…”

“…Apart from the bulk hydride storage systems, three research groups, i.e. Wenzl (1982Wenzl ( , 1983 group in Germany, Eatons (1981) group in USA and Ron (1978) group in Italy, are working in the field of thin film hydrogen storage systems.…”

“…The main advantages of thin film hydrides over bulk hydrides are: (a) The hydrides in thin film form provide large surface area and hence fast charging discharging rate is possible (Wenzl et al, 1983).…”