Pd-based Metallic Glasses as Promising Materials for Hydrogen Energy Applications

Hydrogen storage and production via electrochemistry using advanced amorphous metal catalysts with enhanced performance, cost, and durability may offer dynamic and intermittent power generation opportunities. As a new sub-class of materials, Pd-based metallic-glasses (MGs) have drawn intense attention because of their grain-free, randomly packed atomic structure with intrinsic chemical heterogeneity, bestowing unique physical, structural and chemical properties for energy applications. The first section of this review gives a general introduction to crystalline Pd and Pd-based MGs, including the fabrication techniques of MGs and their hydrogen applications. The second section is devoted to hydrogen sorption of Pd-based MGs examined under ribbons, nanowires/microrods, and thin-films subsections. Hydrogen evolution via Pd-based MGs is analyzed in the third section under the bulk rod, ribbons and thin-films subsections. The fourth section consists of hydrogenation kinetics and sensing, pseudocapacitance, and electron transfer kinetics subsections. The final section provides a broad summary of Pd-based metallic glasses and future prospects. Altogether, this review provides a thorough and inspirational overview of hydrogen sorption and evolution of Pd-based MGs targeted for future large-scale hydrogen energy storage and production systems.