Unveiling Alcohol-Driven Hydrogen Storage Potential of Ti2Ni: In Situ Hydride Formation via Ti2Ni-Catalyzed Hydrogen Autotransfer.

Hydrogen storage alloys have attracted significant attention because of their high energy density and hydrogen storage ability under mild conditions. Some of these materials require hydrogen gas to be treated at high temperatures to store hydrogen. Ti2Ni is a promising hydrogen storage alloy owing to high hydrogen capacity and stability of its hydrides. This study demonstrates a hydrogen storage approach in Ti2Ni via hydrogen autotransfer. This reaction is an effective approach for C-N or C-C bond formation, utilizing unreactive alcohols dehydrogenation to form carbonyl compounds. The alloy exhibits catalytic activity in these reactions, and experimental studies, including X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, revealed the formation of Ti2Ni hydride using alcohols as hydrogen sources. This approach can be applied to common alcohols, such as ethanol and 2-phenethyl alcohol. A gaseous hydrogen detection experiment revealed that the amount of hydrogen released from Ti2Ni hydride reacted with alcohols was up to 0.68. This work represents the first report of the experimental verification of hydrogen being stored in a hydrogen storage alloy via a liquid-phase organic reaction. These findings offer an efficient approach for hydrogen storage using alcohols as hydrogen sources.