Name: Dihydrogen as a Fuel
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 7 min 24 s
Description: A good fuel should release a huge amount of energy on combustion. Let’s explore one such fuel that has promising potential for use as a non-polluting fuel of...

Question

What are interstitial hydrides? Discuss their important uses.

Accepted Answer

Metallic or Interstitial hydrides: $d$ -block elements of Groups $3, 4, 5$ ( $Sc, Ti, V, Y, Zr, Nb, La, Hf, Ta, Ac, etc .,$ ) $10, 11, 12$ ( $Pd, Cu, Zn, etc .$ ) and $f$ -block elements ( $Ce, Eu, Yb, Th, U, etc .$ ) on heating with $H_{2}$ under pressure form hydrides. In Group- $6$ , $Cr$ alone forms the hydride, $CrH$ . The metals of Groups $7, 8$ and $9$ do not form hydrides. In fact, the region of the periodic table from Groups $7 - 9$ which does not form hydrides is referred to as the hydride gap.

Uses: Due to interstitial hydride formation, these metals adsorb large volumes of hydrogen on their surface. The amount of hydrogen occluded depends upon the nature and physical state of the metal. i.e., colloidal palladium > palladium > platinum > gold > nickel.

If red-hot $Pd$ is cooled in $H_{2},$ it adsorbs or occludes about $935$ times its own volume of $H_{2}$ gas. This may be used to separate $H_{2}$ or $D_{2}$ from $He$ and other gases. However, on strong heating, the occluded hydrogen is liberated. Thus, metallic hydrides can be used as hydrogen storage media. This property has high potential for hydrogen. Thus, metallic hydrides can be used as hydrogen storage media. This property has high potential for hydrogen storage and as a source of energy.

Further, metals such as $Ni, Pd, Pt$ , etc., which can adsorb large volumes of hydrogen are widely used in catalytic reduction/hydrogenation reactions for preparation of large number of compounds.

What are interstitial hydrides? Discuss their important uses.

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