A high-entropy alloy (HEA) of HfNbTiVZr was synthesized using an arc furnace followed by ball milling. The hydrogen absorption mechanism was studied by in situ X-ray diffraction at different temperatures and by in situ and ex situ neutron diffraction experiments. The body centered cubic (BCC) metal phase undergoes a phase transformation to a body centered tetragonal (BCT) hydride phase with hydrogen occupying both tetrahedral and octahedral interstitial sites in the structure. Hydrogen cycling of the alloy at 500 degrees C is stable. The large lattice strain in the HEA seems favorable for absorption in both octahedral and tetrahedral sites. HEAs therefore have potential as hydrogen storage materials because of favorable absorption in all interstitial sites within the structure.

High Entropy Alloys (HEA), where five or more elements are mixed together in near equiatomic ratios offer promising properties as hydrogen storage materials due to their ability to crystallize in simple cubic structures in the presence of large lattice strain originating from the different sizes of the atoms. In this work, the hydrogen absorption and desorption as well as the cycling properties of the TiZrNbHfTa HEA have been studied by in situ Synchrotron X-Ray diffraction, Pressure-Composition-Isotherm, Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. The alloy crystallizes in a cubic bcc phase and undergoes a two-stage hydrogen absorption reaction to a fcc dihydride phase with an intermediate tetragonal monohydride, very similar to the V-H system. The hydrogen absorption/desorption in TiZrNbHfTa is completely reversible and the activation energy of desorption could be calculated. Furthermore, we have observed an interesting macrostructure following parallel planes after the formation of the dihydride phase, which is retained after desorption.

We have investigated the structure and hydrogen storage properties of a series of Ti, V, Zr, Nb and Ta based high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with varying degree of local lattice strain by means of synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and manometric measurements in a Sieverts apparatus. The obtained alloys have body-centred cubic (bcc) crystal structures and form face-centred cubic (fcc) metal hydrides with hydrogen-to-metal ratios close to 2. No correlation between the hydrogen storage capacity and the local lattice strain delta r is observed in this work. Both bcc and fcc unit cells expand linearly with the zirconium-to-metal ratio [Zr]/[M], and increased concentration of Zr stabilizes the hydrides. When heated, the hydrides decompose into the original bcc alloys if [Zr]/[M]<12.5 at.%. The hydrides phase-separate in a hydrogen-induced decomposition type process for [Zr]/[M]>= 12.5 at.%. The result is then a combination of two bcc phases, one with a larger and the other with a smaller unit cell than the original bcc alloy. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We have investigated the structure and hydrogen storage properties of a series of quaternary and quintary high-entropy alloys related to the ternary system TiVNb with powder X-ray diffraction (PXD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and manometric measurements in a Sieverts apparatus. The alloys have body-centred cubic (bcc) crystal structures and form face-centred cubic (fcc) metal hydrides with hydrogen-to-metal ratios close to 2 by hydrogenation. The onset temperature for hydrogen desorption, T-onset, decreases linearly with the valence-electron concentration, VEC. Moreover, the volumetric expansion per metal atom from the bcc alloys to the fcc hydrides, [(V/Z)(fcc) - (V/Z)(bcc)]/(V/Z)(bcc), increases linearly with the VEC. Therefore, it seems that a larger expansion of the lattice destabilizes the metal hydrides and that this effect can be tuned by altering the VEC. Kissinger analyses performed on the DSC measurements indicate that the destabilization is a thermodynamic rather than kinetic effect. Based upon these insights we have identified TiVCrNbH8 as a material with suitable thermodynamics for hydrogen storage in the solid state. This HEA-based hydride has a reversible hydrogen storage capacity of 1.96 wt% H at room temperature and moderate H-2-pressures. Moreover, it is not dependent on any elaborate activation procedure to absorb hydrogen.

A number of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) in the TiVZrNbHf system have been synthesized by arc melting and systematically evaluated for their hydrogen sorption characteristics. A total of 21 alloys with varying elemental compositions were investigated, and 17 of them form body-centered-cubic (bcc) solid solutions in the as-cast state. A total of 15 alloys form either face-centered-cubic (fcc) or body-centered-tetragonal (bct) hydrides after exposure to gaseous hydrogen with hydrogen per metal ratios (H/M) as high as 2.0. Linear trends are observed between the volumetric expansion per metal atom [(V/Z)_fcc/bct – (V/Z)_bcc/hcp]/(V/Z)_bcc/hcp with the valence electron concentration and average Pauling electronegativity (χ_p) of the alloys. However, no correlation was observed between the atomic size mismatch, δ, and any investigated hydrogen sorption property such as the maximum storage capacity or onset temperature for hydrogen release.

Many of the materials properties of high-entropy alloys (HEAs), like increased hardness, reduced thermal and electrical conductivity, and interesting hydrogen storage properties, are proposed to be related to local lattice distortions of the crystal structure due to the significant size differences between the elements of the alloy. However, direct evidence of this effect is very limited in the literature, and it therefore remains a hypothesis. This work presents a detailed assessment of the local lattice distortion in three body-centered cubic (bcc) HEAs TiVNb, TiVZrNb and TiVZrNbHf with varying atomic size differences using total scattering measurements and Reverse Monte Carlo structure modelling. The analysis indicates that the amount of local lattice distortion in the alloys increases with the elemental size difference in the alloy. The amount of lattice distortion is relieved when dideuterides with CaF2-type structures (Fm (3) over barm) are formed from the bcc (Im (3) over barm) HEAs. Analyses of the local environments around the deuterium atoms reveal an interesting correlation between the valence-electron concentration (VEC) of the nearest-neighbour metals and the stability of tetrahedral interstices with respect to deuterium occupation. Moreover, there is a tendency towards Ti/Nb short-range order in TiVNbD5.7 where the mixing entropy is lowest. In TiVZrNbHfD10, about 6 % of the deuterium atoms are displaced from the tetrahedral interstices with smaller volumes to octahedral interstices.

The vibrational properties of several High Entropy Alloy (HEA) based metal hydrides are investigated by inelastic neutron scattering (INS). HEAs have recently emerged as a new type of materials with a wide range of intriguing properties and potential applications such as hydrogen storage. The special properties of HEAs are believed to originate from the disordered lattice and internal strain that is introduced from the differences in atomic radii. This makes HEA hydrides provide an intriguing situation for the local H coordination, of several different transition metals. INS spectra were collected on a series of HEA-based metal hydrides starting with TiVNbH_x and subsequently adding Zr and Hf to increase the atomic size mismatch. A general feature of the spectra are the optical peaks centered around an energy loss of 150 meV that can be attributed to hydrogen vibrations in a tetrahedral environment. Upon the addition of Zr and Hf, a shoulder appears on the optical peak at lower energy transfers that after comparison with in silico calculated INS spectra is indicative of hydrogen also occupying octahedral sites in the structure.

Solid-state hydrogen storage materials that are optimized for specific use cases could be a crucial facilitator of the hydrogen economy transition. Yet the discovery of novel hydriding materials has historically been a manual process driven by chemical intuition or experimental trial-and-error. Data-driven materials' discovery paradigms provide an alternative to traditional approaches, whereby machine/statistical learning (ML) models are used to efficiently screen materials for desired properties and significantly narrow the scope of expensive/time-consuming first-principles modeling and experimental validation. Here we specifically focus on a relatively new class of hydrogen storage materials, high entropy alloy (HEA) hydrides, whose vast combinatorial composition space and local structural disorder necessitates a data-driven approach that does not rely on exact crystal structures in order to make property predictions. Our ML model quickly screens hydride stability within a large HEA space and permits down selection for laboratory validation based not only on targeted thermodynamic properties, but also secondary criteria such as alloy phase stability and density. To experimentally verify our predictions, we performed targeted synthesis and characterization of several novel hydrides that demonstrate significant destabilization (70x increase in equilibrium pressure, 20 kJ/molH₂ decrease in desorption enthalpy) relative to the benchmark HEA hydride, TiVZrNbHfH_x. Ultimately, by providing a large composition space in which hydride thermodynamics can be continuously tuned over a wide range, this work will enable efficient materials selection for various applications, especially in areas such as metal hydride based hydrogen compressors, actuators, and heat pumps.