Metal Hydride Nanoparticles with Ultrahigh Structural Stability and Hydrogen Storage Activity Derived from Microencapsulated Nanoconfinement

Metal hydrides (MHs) have recently been designed for hydrogen sensors, switchable mirrors, rechargeable batteries, and other energy-storage and conversion-related applications. The demands of MHs, particular fast hydrogen absorption/desorption kinetics, have brought their sizes to nanoscale. However, the nanostructured MHs generally suffer from surface passivation and low aggregation-resisting structural stability upon absorption/desorption. This study reports a novel strategy named microencapsulated nanoconfinement to realize local synthesis of nano-MHs, which possess ultrahigh structural stability and superior desorption kinetics. Monodispersed Mg₂NiH₄ single crystal nanoparticles (NPs) are in situ encapsulated on the surface of graphene sheets (GS) through facile gas–solid reactions. This well-defined MgO coating layer with a thickness of ≈3 nm efficiently separates the NPs from each other to prevent aggregation during hydrogen absorption/desorption cycles, leading to excellent thermal and mechanical stability. More interestingly, the MgO layer shows superior gas-selective permeability to prevent further oxidation of Mg₂NiH₄ meanwhile accessible for hydrogen absorption/desorption. As a result, an extremely low activation energy (31.2 kJ mol^–1) for the dehydrogenation reaction is achieved. This study provides alternative insights into designing nanosized MHs with both excellent hydrogen storage activity and thermal/mechanical stability exempting surface modification by agents.