In-situ Hydrogen Sorption 2D-ACAR Facility for the Study of Metal Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage

We developed a dedicated hydrogen sorption setup coupled to a positron 2D-ACAR (two-dimensional Angular Correlation of Annihilation Radiation) setup employing a 22Na-source, which will enable to collect 2D-ACAR momentum distributions in-situ as a function of temperature, hydrogen pressure and hydrogen content. In parallel, a dedicated glovebox was constructed for handling air-sensitive metal and metal hydride samples, with a special entrance for the 2D-ACAR sample insert. The 2D-ACAR setup was tested in first measurements on a Pd0.75Ag0.25 foil and on a ball-milled MgH2 powder in both the hydrogen loaded and desorbed states. The hydrogen loaded Pd0.75Ag0.25Hx sample was kept under a 1 bar hydrogen pressure to prevent partial desorption during measurements at room temperature. The collected 2D-ACAR distributions of Pd0.75Ag0.25 and Pd0.75Ag0.25Hx showed similar features as observed in previous studies. The broadening of the ACAR distributions observed for the Mg to MgH2 metal-insulator transition was compared in a quantitative manner to ab-initio calculations reported in the literature.