Improving hydrogen storage/release properties of magnesium with nano-sized metal catalysts as measured by tapered element oscillating microbalance

An effective catalyst doping method was developed for directly depositing nano-particles of various metal catalysts (palladium, platinum and ruthenium) on the outer surface of magnesium powders through a wet chemistry process. The catalyst-doped magnesium was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Catalysts of nano-meter size were uniformly deposited on the outer surface of the magnesium particles. The hydrogen storage and hydrogen release properties of magnesium and catalysts-doped magnesium were measured in situ by the tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM), and also by the volumetric method. Both the hydrogen absorption and hydrogen release kinetics of magnesium were significantly improved by doping the nano-particle catalysts. Among the three metals-doped and examined, palladium showed the best catalytic effect. Upon doping 0.5 mol% nano-particle palladium, the hydrogen absorption and hydrogen release rates of magnesium increased 1 and 14 times, respectively, as revealed by the dynamic measurement of storage/release by TEOM, which indicated a strong catalytic effect.