XAFS Study of the Al K-Edge in NaAlH4

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 111; no. 31; pp. 11721 - 11725
• Main Authors: Baldé, Cornelis P, Mijovilovich, Ana E, Koningsberger, Diederik C, van der Eerden, Ad M. J, Smith, Andy D, de Jong, Krijn P, Bitter, Johannes H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 09-08-2007
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/jp068678+

Al K-edge (1561.1 eV) XANES and EXAFS spectra of unoxidized NaAlH4, a hydrogen storage material, have been recorded in He atmosphere in a special in situ low-energy cell. The XANES spectrum of NaAlH4 is reported and compared to that of oxidized NaAlH4, thus illustrating the power of XANES spectroscopy as a quick qualitative check of the NaAlH4. For the EXAFS data, reliable fits of the Al K-edge spectra could be obtained when all scattering contributions, i.e., Al−H, Al−Na, and Al−Al, were incorporated into the fit. The hydrogen atoms made a significant contribution to the Al K-edge EXAFS signal of NaAlH4, which stresses the importance of hydrogen scattering when analyzing EXAFS data of this metal hydride.