title: A mechanical-force-driven physical vapour deposition approach to fabricating complex hydride nanostructures.
abstract: Nanoscale hydrides desorb and absorb hydrogen at faster rates and lower temperatures than bulk hydrides because of their high surface areas, abundant grain boundaries and short diffusion distances. No current methods exist for the direct fabrication of nanoscale complex hydrides (for example, alanates, borohydrides) with unique morphologies because of their extremely high reducibility, relatively low thermodynamic stability and complicated elemental composition. Here, we demonstrate a mechanical-force-driven physical vapour deposition procedure for preparing nanoscale complex hydrides without scaffolds or supports. Magnesium alanate nanorods measuring 20-40 nm in diameter and lithium borohydride nanobelts measuring 10-40 nm in width are successfully synthesised on the basis of the one-dimensional structure of the corresponding organic coordination polymers. The dehydrogenation kinetics of the magnesium alanate nanorods are improved, and the nanorod morphology persists through the dehydrogenation-hydrogenation process. Our findings may facilitate the fabrication of such hydrides with improved hydrogen storage properties for practical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Yuepeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Mingxia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Liuzhang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Jiangwen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Hongge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pan