Hydrogenation of AB5 and AB2 metal hydride alloys studied by in situ X-ray diffraction

The evolution of lattice constants and abundances of metal (α) and metal hydride (β) phases during the hydrogenation process of an AB5 alloy with a CaCu5 crystal structure, an AB2 alloy with a predominating C14 structure, and a C14/C15-mixed AB2 alloy were reported. The preferred hydrogen insertion sites at different states of charge in both the α and β phases were studied based on the lattice parameter changes during hydrogenation. During the hydrogenation of the AB5 alloy, the ratio between lattice parameters a and c (a/c ratio) in the α phase decreases, stabilizes, and then decreases again while that in the β phase decreases and then stabilizes. The trends in unit cell volume changes are increasing, plateauing, and increasing again in the α phase and increasing followed by plateauing in the β phase as the hydrogenation level increases. In the C14-predominant AB2 alloy, the a/c ratio in the α phase increases at the beginning and then stabilizes while that in the β phase remains about the same and then increases during the addition of hydrogen. Moreover, the unit cell volume in the α phase increases slightly during hydrogenation, comparing to the increasing, decreasing, and then increasing trend in the β phase. In the C14/C15 mixed AB2 alloy, hydrogenation of the C15 phase starts at the beginning and promotes the hydrogenation of the C14 phase. The C14 phase, as the main hydrogen storage phase, completes hydrogenation first compared to the C15 phase, which is about 50% hydrided at 1 MPa H2.