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In this paper we report the effect of three different preparation methods on the first hydrogenation of the vanadium-rich BCC alloy Ti16V60Cr24: one-time cold rolling, 5 min ball milling and addition of 4 wt.% of Zr. All samples were synthesized by arc melting. Without Zr addition the alloy was single phase, but when 4 wt.% Zr was added, a secondary zirconium-rich phase was present. However, X-ray diffraction patterns only showed a single-body-centred cubic phase before hydrogenation for all samples. The crystal structure of the fully hydrogenated samples was body-centred tetragonal. The highest hydrogen capacity (3.8 wt.%) was measured for the Zr-doped alloy. The ball-milled alloy also exhibited a high storage capacity and fast kinetics. However, the maximum hydrogen storage capacity slightly decreased after cold rolling. It was found that air exposure increases incubation time for the first hydrogenation. The incubation time was shortened by cold rolling which, however, reduced the hydrogen storage capacity. The Pressure-Composition isotherms of Ti16V60Cr24 + 4 wt.% Zr at 297, 303 and 323 K were determined. The determined enthalpy and entropy of hydrides formation were −41 ± 5 kJ/mol and −134 ± 14 J/mol/K, respectively.

Humanity is confronted with one of the most significant challenges in its history. The excessive use of fossil fuel energy sources is causing extreme climate change, which threatens our way of life and poses huge social and technological problems. It is imperative to look for alternate energy sources that can replace environmentally destructive fossil fuels. In this scenario, hydrogen is seen as a potential energy vector capable of enabling the better and synergic exploitation of renewable energy sources. A brief review of the use of hydrogen as a tool for decarbonizing our society is given in this work. Special emphasis is placed on the possibility of storing hydrogen in solid-state form (in hydride species), on the potential fields of application of solid-state hydrogen storage, and on the technological challenges solid-state hydrogen storage faces. A potential approach to reduce the carbon footprint of hydrogen storage materials is presented in the concluding section of this paper.