Light-weight sodium alanate thin films grown by reactive sputtering

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to create sodium alanate thin films via reactive sputtering, enabling optical monitoring of hydrogen desorption and phase changes, which aids in understanding lightweight metal hydrides for hydrogen storage.

Contribution

It introduces a reactive sputtering technique to produce sodium alanate thin films and shows optical methods can monitor their hydrogen storage properties.

Findings

Hydrogen desorption can be effectively monitored with optical spectroscopy.

Phase segregation and dopant effects are observable in thin films.

Thin film approach serves as a model for studying metal hydrides.

Abstract

We report the preparation of sodium alanate, a promising hydrogen storage material, in a thin film form using co-sputtering in a reactive atmosphere of atomic hydrogen. We study the phase formation and distribution, and the hydrogen desorption, with a combination of optical and infrared transmission spectroscopy. We show that the hydrogen desorption, the phase segregation and the role of the dopants in these complex metal hydrides can be monitored with optical measurements. This result shows that a thin film approach can be used for a model study of technologically relevant lightweight metal hydrides.