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Mg2FeH6 is regarded as potential hydrogen and thermochemical storage medium due to its high volumetric hydrogen (150 kg/m3) and energy (0.49 kWh/L) densities. In this work, the mechanism of formation of Mg2FeH6 under equilibrium conditions is thoroughly investigated applying volumetric measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and the combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Starting from a 2Mg:Fe stoichiometric powder ratio, thorough characterizations of samples taken at different states upon hydrogenation under equilibrium conditions confirm that the formation mechanism of Mg2FeH6 occurs from elemental Mg and Fe by columnar nucleation of the complex hydride at boundaries of the Fe seeds. The formation of MgH2 is enhanced by the presence of Fe. However, MgH2 does not take part as intermediate for the formation of Mg2FeH6 and acts as solid-solid diffusion barrier which hinders the complete formation of Mg2FeH6. This work provides novel insight about the formation mechanism of Mg2FeH6.

Research on two-dimensional materials is one of the most relevant fields in materials science. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs), a versatile class of anionic clays, exhibit great potential in photocatalysis, energy storage and conversion, and environmental applications. However, its implementation in real-life devices requires the development of efficient and reproducible large-scale synthesis processes. Unfortunately, reliable methods that allow for the production of large quantities of two-dimensional LDHs with well-defined morphologies and high crystallinity are very scarce. In this work, we carry out a scale-up of the urea-based CoAl-LDH synthesis method. We thoroughly study the effects of the mass scale-up (25-fold: up to 375 mM) and the volumetric scale-up (20-fold: up to 2 L). For this, we use a combination of several structural (XRD, TGA, and N2 and CO2 isotherms), microscopic (SEM, TEM, and AFM), magnetic (SQUID), and spectroscopic techniques (ATR-FTIR, UV–vis, XPS, ICP-MS, and XANES-EXAFS). In the case of the volumetric scale-up, a reduction of 45% in the lateral dimensions of the crystals (from 3.7 to 2.0 µm) is observed as the reaction volume increases. This fact is related to modified heating processes affecting the alkalinization rates and, concomitantly, the precipitation, even under recrystallization at high temperatures. In contrast, for the tenfold mass scale-up, similar morphological features were observed and assigned to changes in nucleation and growth. However, at higher concentrations, simonkolleite-like Co-based layered hydroxide impurities are formed, indicating a phase competition during the precipitation related to the thermodynamic stability of the growing phases. Overall, this work demonstrates that it is possible to upscale the synthesis of high-quality hexagonal CoAl-LDH in a reproducible manner. It highlights the most critical synthesis aspects that must be controlled and provides various fingerprints to trace the quality of these materials. These results will contribute to bringing the use of these 2D layered materials closer to reality in different applications of interest.

Several characterization techniques were employed to elucidate the Pt species present in the structure of Pt-NaA catalysts. Three types of Pt particles were identified: nanoparticles located at the surface of the crystals (with a higher size and flattened form), 1–2 nm particles inside the structure, and sub-nanometric particles, lower than 1 nm, confined in the pores. The low PtPt coordination number (EXAFS) is compatible with both flattened dihedral-like morphology, as well as the presence of sub-nanometric particles. The Pt0.6_NaA catalyst exhibited higher activity (in the WGS) than the other catalysts, which could be related to the presence of small particles.