Superior (de)hydrogenation properties of Mg–Ti–Pd trilayer films at room temperature

Abstract

In this paper, a series of Mg-Ti-Pd trilayer films with various thicknesses of the Ti interlayer were prepared by magnetron sputtering. The trilayer films could be reversibly (de)hydrogenated at room temperature. The relationship between structure and properties of Mg-Ti-Pd trilayer films was comprehensively investigated. Our studies showed that the hydrogen storage properties of Mg-Pd films were significantly improved with the addition of a Ti interlayer. The optimal hydrogenation properties were obtained when the Ti interlayer was 1 nm. The superior hydrogenation properties achieved by introduction of the Ti interlayer could be attributed to several aspects: prevention of Mg-Pd alloying; catalytic dissociation of H(2) molecules and provision of heterogeneous nucleation sites. These results were elucidative for the development of high performance intermetallic hydrogen storage materials and thin film based functional devices.

Progress and Trends in Magnesium‐Based Materials for Energy‐Storage Research: A Review

“…Thin‐film formation is a suitable technique to prepare 2D MBMs for hydrogen storage, hydrogen sensors, optical switchable windows, and so on. Generally, thermal evaporation, electron‐beam evaporation, magnetron sputtering, and other methods could be adopted to fabricate magnesium‐based thin films.…”

“…[29] Therefore,r eactive ball milling under aH 2 atmosphere was developed to enhance the milling efficiency, [30,31] especially for directly preparing Mg-based hydride compounds.I nt he past decade, the group of Zhu developed an ovel milling technique called dielectric barrier discharge plasma-assisted ball milling, which remarkably improved the hydrogen-storage performance of MBMs. [32] Thin-film formation is as uitable techniquet op repare 2D MBMsf or hydrogen storage, [33,34] hydrogen sensors, [35,36] optical switchable windows, [36] and so on. Generally,t hermal evaporation, electron-beam evaporation, magnetron sputtering, ando ther methods could be adopted to fabricate magnesium-based thin films.T hin films on the nanometer scale show some interesting physicala nd chemical phenomena that could barely be observed in bulk cases.F or example, Baldi et al reported that, throughe lastic constraintsi ns andwiched magnesium-based multilayers,t he thermodynamics of hydrogenation for magnesium could be significantlya ltered.…”

Promising electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of thick Mg–Pd films obtained by insertion of thin Ti interlayers

“…According to our studies published before, the addition of the Ti element in bulk Mg film might provide heterogeneous nucleation sites, which helps to destabilize the hydride and activate the Mg electrode to absorb/desorb hydrogen reversibly in the alkaline electrolyte. 25,27 For the Mg100-Ti1 sample, as shown in Fig. 9, numerous interfaces were created between Mg and Ti layers, when dividing 500 nm bulk Mg films into five 100 nm thick sublayers by insertion of 1 nm Ti interlayers.…”

“…In our previous work, we have reported that the gaseous hydrogen storage properties of 100 nm Mg-Pd films could be significantly improved by addition of 1 nm Ti and Al interlayers. 25,26 Inspired by these results, we have fabricated a series of 500 nm Mg-Pd films with different structures by insertion of thin Ti interlayers (B1 nm), and their gaseous hydrogen storage properties have been investigated. 27 In this paper, we used different 500 nm Mg-Pd films as the anodes of Ni-MH batteries, and systematically investigated their electrochemical hydrogen storage properties in a 6 M KOH electrolyte.…”

Controllable optical transitions of amorphous Mg and Mg–Ni films via electrochemical methods

“…Previous investigations on crystalline Mg and Mg-Ti thin films for hydrogen storage have shown that the hydrogen diffusion coefficient can be measured conventionally by electrochemical measurements. 22,23 Therefore, studies on the hydrogen diffusion inside amorphous Mg and Mg-Ni thin films via electrochemical methods have been performed to distinguish the different effects of amorphization and Ni addition.…”