Hydrogenation Properties of the Ti45Zr38−xYxNi17 (5 ≤ x ≤ 10) and the Ti45−zYzZr38Ni17 (5 ≤ z ≤ 15) Mechanically Alloyed Materials

The amorphous materials of the Ti45Zr38Ni17 composition synthesized by mechanical alloying are widely recognized for their ability to store hydrogen with gravimetric densities above 2 wt.%. It is also known that those alloys can form a quasicrystalline state after thermal treatment and their structural and hydrogen sorption properties can be altered by doping with various elements. Therefore, in this paper, the results of the studies on the Ti45Zr38Ni17 system with yttrium substituted for titanium and zirconium are presented. We demonstrate that these alloys are able to absorb hydrogen with a concentration of up to 2.7 wt.% while retaining their amorphous structure and they transform into the unique glassy-quasicrystal phase upon annealing. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the in-situ hydrogenation of those new materials is an effortless procedure in which the decomposition of the alloy can be avoided. Moreover, we prove that, in that process, hydrogen does not bind to any specific component of the alloy, which would otherwise cause the formation of simple hydrides or nanoclusters.