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Merck

In situ X-ray Raman spectroscopy of LiBH4.

Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP (2012-03-20)
Piter S Miedema, Peter Ngene, Ad M J van der Eerden, Tsu-Chien Weng, Dennis Nordlund, Dimosthenis Sokaras, Roberto Alonso-Mori, Amélie Juhin, Petra E de Jongh, Frank M F de Groot
ABSTRACT

X-Ray Raman Spectroscopy (XRS) is used to study the electronic properties of bulk lithium borohydride (LiBH(4)) and LiBH(4) in porous carbon nano-composites (LiBH(4)/C) during dehydrogenation. The lithium (Li), boron (B) and carbon (C) K-edges are studied and compared with calculations of the starting material and intermediate compounds. Comparison of the B and C K-edge XRS spectra of the as-prepared samples with rehydrogenated samples shows that the B and C electronic structure is largely regained after rehydrogenation. Both Li and C K-edge spectra show that during dehydrogenation, part of the Li intercalates into the porous carbon. This study shows that XRS in combination with calculations is a promising tool to study the electronic properties of nano-crystalline light-weight materials for energy storage.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Lithium borohydride, hydrogen-storage grade, ≥90%
Sigma-Aldrich
Lithium borohydride, ≥90%
Sigma-Aldrich
Lithium borohydride, ≥95.0%
Sigma-Aldrich
Lithium borohydride solution, 2.0 M in THF
Sigma-Aldrich
Lithium borohydride solution, 0.5 M in diethyl ether