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 H₂ 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.