Improved thermal stability of gas-phase Mg nanoparticles for hydrogen storage

Abstract

This work focuses on improving the thermal stability of Mg nanoparticles (NPs) for use in hydrogen storage. Three ways are investigated that can achieve this goal. (i) Addition of Cu prevents void formation during NP production and reduces the fast evaporation/voiding of Mg during annealing. (ii) Alloying can prevent Mg evaporation: e.g., Mg with Ni forms a thermally stable core/shell (MgNi2 /Ni) preventing Mg evaporation during annealing. (iii) Covering Mg NPs with a Ti film leads to suppression of Mg evaporation during vacuum annealing. Indeed, hydrogenation of the Ti/Mg NPs shows formation of the γ -MgH2 phase as for pure Mg NPs. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.