Generating Mechanism of Catalytic Effect for Hydrogen Absorption/Desorption Reactions in NaAlH4–TiCl3

The hydrogen desorption and absorption reactions of the complex metal hydride NaAlH4 are disproportionation processes, and the kinetics can be improved by adding a few mol% of Ti compounds, although the catalytic mechanism, including the location and state of Ti, remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to reveal the generating mechanism of catalytic Al–Ti alloy in NaAlH4 with TiCl3 using quantum multiprobe techniques such as neutron diffraction (ND), synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), anomalous X-ray scattering (AXS), and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). Rietveld refinements of the ND and XRD, profiles before the first desorption of NaAlD(H)4–0.02TiCl3 showed that Al in NaAlD(H)4 was partially substituted by Ti. On the other hand, Ti was not present in NaAlH4, and Al–Ti nanoparticles were detected in the XRD profile after the first re-absorption. This was consistent with the AXS and XAFS results. It is suggested that the substitution promotes the formation of a highly dispersed nanosized Al–Ti alloy during the first desorption process and that the effectiveness of TiCl3 as an additive can be attributed to the dispersion of Ti.