We investigated the
atomic structure of graphene supported Pd nanoclusters
and their interaction with hydrogen up to atmospheric pressures at
room temperature by surface X-ray diffraction and scanning tunneling
microscopy. We find that Ir seeded Pd nanocluster superlattices with
1.2 nm cluster diameters can be grown on the graphene/Ir(111) moiré
template with high structural perfection. The superlattice clusters
are anchored through the rehybridized graphene to the Ir support,
which superimposes a 2.0% inplane compression onto the clusters. During
hydrogen exposure at 10 mbar pressure and room temperature, a significant
part of the clusters gets unpinned from the superlattice. The clusters
in registry undergo an out-of-plane expansion only, whereas the detached
clusters expand in in- and out-of-plane directions. The formation
of a hydrogen rich PdH
x
α′
phase was not observed. After exposure to 1 bar, the majority of the
clusters are unpinned from superlattice sites, due to their surface
interaction with hydrogen and possible spill over to the graphene
support. Only minor sintering was observed, which is more pronounced
for the unpinned clusters. The results give evidence that ultrasmall
Pd clusters on graphene are a stable hydrogen storage system with
reduced hydrogen storage hysteresis and maintain a large surface area
for hydrogen chemisorption.