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The structure of the cubic polymorph of magnesium tetrahydroborate (γ-Mg(BH(4))(2)) has been determined in space group Ia3d from a structural database of the isoelectronic compound SiO(2); this has been corroborated by DFT calculations. The structure is found to concur with that recently determined by Filinchuk et al. (Y. Filinchuk, B. Richter, T. R. Jensen, V. Dmitriev, D. Chernyshov and H. Hagemann, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201100675). The phase transformations and subsequent decomposition of γ-Mg(BH(4))(2) on heating have been ascertained from variable-temperature synchrotron X-ray diffraction data combined with thermogravimetric and mass spectrometry measurements. At ~160 °C, conversion to a disordered variant of the β-Mg(BH(4))(2) phase (denoted as β') is observed along with a further unidentified polymorph. There is evidence of amorphous phases during decomposition but there is no direct crystallographic indication of the existence of Mg(B(12)H(12)) or other intermediate Mg-B-H compounds. MgH(2) and finally Mg are observed in the X-ray diffraction data after decomposition.

HyStorM is a multidisciplinary hydrogen-storage project aiming to synthesise and tune materials hydrogen storage properties for automotive applications. Firstly, unique high-throughput combinatorial thin-film technologies are used to screen materials' hydrogen storage properties. Then promising thin-film candidate compositions are synthesised and examined in the bulk. In this paper, we report on our results within the ternary compositions Mg-Ti-B and Ca-Ti-B. Primary screening of the Mg-Ti-B ternary identified a high capacity hotspot corresponding to Mg0.36Ti0.06B0.58, with 10.6 wt% H2 capacity. Partial reversibility has been observed for this material in the thin-film. Bulk Ti-doped Mg(BH4)2 composites show rehydrogenation to MgH2 under the conditions used. The synthesised thin-film Ca-Ti-B ternary showed only low hydrogen storage capacities. In the bulk, Ti-doping experiments on Ca(BH4)2 demonstrated reversible storage capacities up to 5.9 wt% H2. Further characterisation experiments are required to decipher the role of the Ti-dopant in these systems in both films and in the bulk.

We report a new series of sodium cobalt oxyhydrates that contains the same two dimensional building blocks as superconducting NaxCoO2.yH2O. The absence of superconductivity emphasises the importance of the CoO2 stacking arrangement on the resultant electronic properties.

Ferrimagnetic tris-oxalato-ferrate(II,III) salts with general formula AFeIIFeIII(C2O4)3 (A = quaternary ammonium, phosphonium) all crystallise in two-dimensional hexagonal honeycomb lattices but while some show conventional Néel type Q magnetisation at low temperature others show negative Néet type N magnetisation below a compensation temperature Tcomp. The compounds having negative magnetisation show a discontinuity in the magnetisation at a temperature between Tcomp and Tc suggesting a magneto-strictive transition. For the type Q compounds, hysteresis and frequency dependent AC susceptibility show that the low temperature magnetic state is glassy, either because of frustration of random anisotropy domains below a blocking temperature, or imbalance in the fractions of FeII and FeIII.

The synthesis and structural and magnetic characterization of 16 compounds AM(II)Fe(III)(C(2)O(4))(3) (A = N(n-C(3)H(7))(4), N(n-C(4)H(9))(4), N(n-C(5)H(11))(4), P(n-C(4)H(9))(4), P(C(6)H(5))(4), N(n-C(4)H(9))(3)(C(6)H(5)CH(2)), (C(6)H(5))(3)PNP(C(6)H(5))(3), As(C(6)H(5))(4); M(II) = Mn, Fe) are reported. X-ray powder diffraction profiles are indexed in R3c or its subgroup P6(5)22 or P6/mmm to derive unit cell constants. The structures of all the compounds consist of two-dimensional honeycomb networks [M(II)Fe(III)(C(2)O(4))(3)(-)](infinity). The M(II) = Fe compounds behave as ferrimagnets with T(c) between 33 and 48 K, but five exhibit a crossover from positive to negative magnetization near 30 K when cooled in a field of 10 mT. The compounds exhibiting this unusual magnetic behavior are those that have the highest T(c). Within the set N(n-C(n)()H(2)(n)()(+1))(4)Fe(II)Fe(III)(C(2)O(4))(3) (n = 3-5), T(c) increases with interlayer separation and the low-temperature magnetization changes from positive (n = 3) to negative (n = 4, 5). In the M = Mn(II) compounds, the in-plane cell parameter a(0) is approximately 0.03 Å greater than in the corresponding M = Fe(II) ones while the interlayer separation (c(0)/6) is on average 0.08 Å smaller. All members of the M(II) = Mn series have magnetic susceptibilities showing broad maxima at 55 K characteristic of two-dimensional antiferromagnetism, but the magnetization of several of the salts increases sharply below 27 K due to the onset of spin canting, the magnitude of which varies significantly with A.