Investigation of hydrogen storage in zirconium and its alloys

Zirconium based alloys have attracted a great deal of attention for their substantial hydrogen storage capacity. But the high stabilities of these hydrides as indicated by their ΔH values make their practical use very limited. The present thesis deals with the study of partial substitution of Zr and Fe elements in ZrFe2 compound by other elements i.e. Mn, Ni, Cr, Co to increase the equilibrium pressure and thus to reduce the stability of their hydrides. Another purpose of this study is to obtain knowledge of structural and magnetic characteristics of the alloys and relevant hydrides. Another phase of this thesis deals with the thin film hydrogen storage. The use of thin film for hydrogen storage has become very important as the main process of absorption/desorption of hydrogen takes place on the surface of the material and thin film provide a large surface area for hydrogen absorption. Here the effect of hydrogen absorption on Zr/M (M = transition metals) bilayer system has been studied in terms of their resistance. (author)