Papers by Keyword: Neutron Spectroscopy

Abstract: Late Professor Stewart initiated and shaped the International Conference on Positron Annihilation (ICPA) series. As a first-generation experimental positron-annihilation scientist, he made full use of the angular correlation of annihilation radiation (ACAR) method. He applied this method to study Fermi surfaces of metals, positron wave-functions in crystals, positron-electron and -phonon many-body interactions, and the vacancy formation energy in solids. He also studied with this method positronium in liquids and solids (T. Hyodo, J. Phys. Conf. Series, 618 (2015) 012002). All these studies enjoyed by Professor Stewart will long be remembered by the positron study community.

Abstract: We have studied the diffusive mobility of hydrogen molecules confined in different size cages in clathrate hydrates. In clathrate hydrate H₂ molecules are effectively stored by confinement in two different size cages of the nanoporous host structure with accessible volumes of about 0.50 and 0.67 nm diameters, respectively. For the processes of sorption and desorption of the stored hydrogen the diffusive mobility of the molecules plays a fundamental role. In the present study we have focused on the dynamics of the H₂ molecules inside the cages as one aspect of global guest molecule mobility across the crystalline host structure. We have found that for the two cage sizes different in diameter by only 34 % and in volume by about a factor of 2.4, the dimension can modify the diffusive mobility of confined hydrogen in both directions, i.e. reducing and surprisingly enhancing mobility compared to the bulk at the same temperature. In the smaller cages of clathrate hydrates hydrogen molecules are localized in the center of the cages even at temperatures >100 K. Confinement in the large cages leads to the onset already at T=10 K of jump diffusion between sorption sites separated from each other by about 2.9 Å at the 4 corners of a tetrahedron. At this temperature bulk hydrogen is frozen at ambient pressure and shows no molecular mobility on the same time scale. A particular feature of this diffusive mobility is the pronounced dynamic heterogeneity: only a temperature dependent fraction of the H₂ molecules was found mobile on the time scale covered by the neutron spectrometer used. The differences in microscopic dynamics inside the cages of two different sizes can help to explain the differences in the parameters of macroscopic mobility: trapping of hydrogen molecules in smaller pores matching the molecule size can to play a role in the higher desorption temperature for the small cages.

Abstract: The search for efficient hydrogen-storage materials has led to an increasing interest in hydrogen clathrate hydrates, since it has been demonstrated that an appreciable amount of molecular hydrogen can be stored in the water cages and released at melting. Different synthetic routes have been followed to maximize the quantity of trapped hydrogen and to speed up the kinetics of the clathrate formation. Here, we describe two different synthetic routes for the production of hydrogen clathrate hydrates. Then we present the results of inelastic neutron scattering and Raman light scattering experiments on simple (i.e. containing only hydrogen) and binary (i.e. with a second guest molecule) clathrates. For each class of compounds, we have obtained spectroscopic information on the motion of hydrogen inside the cages, on the occupancy of the cages by hydrogens, and on lattice dynamics. Finally, we have investigated the clathrate crystal stability and the hydrogen release as a function of temperature by means of neutron diffraction.