Alanates, metal hydrides based on the AlH4– unit, are some of the most promising groups of metal hydrides for reversible hydrogen storage at moderate temperatures, with possibilities of reaching 5 wt% reversible storage capacity. The pioneering work of Bogdanovic et al. in 1997 [1] revealed that Ti additives increased the desorption kinetics of NaAlH4 and furthermore made re-hydrogenation possible. In order to get a better understanding of the reactions, detailed studies of the structure is essential. In particular, it is important to understand the nature of the additive in order to improve the kinetics. Our structural studies of the NaAlD4 and LiAlD4 systems with different additives will be presented along with in-situ studies of the desorption.

[1] B. Bogdanovic and M. Schwickardi, J. Alloys Comp. 253 (1997) 1.