Proposed mechanisms for the catalytic activity of Ti in NaAlH ₄

A study was conducted to demonstrate titanium (Ti)-based doping in sodium alanate. Proposed mechanisms for Ti catalysis were proposed mechanisms for Ti catalysis in turn. A brief overview of the decomposition of sodium alanate, the nature of the additives investigated for catalyzing hydrogen storage in sodium alanate, and what happened to the Ti on doping into the material was also presented to definitively establish the context for the mechanistic proposals. It was observed that pure unit Ti, improvements in the kinetics of hydrogen release and uptake slowed with increasing amounts of added Ti. This was accompanied by the obvious decrease in the by-weight hydrogen storage capacity of the overall material, meaning that there was an optimum window of a few wt % Ti for mobile hydrogen storage.