LAUSR

Abstract The present investigation reports the effect of TiH2 templated over graphene (TiH2@Gr) on the hydrogen sorption characteristics of MgH2/Mg. The as synthesized TiH2@Gr leads to significant effect on sorption in MgH2 by the following effects: the first is dehydrogenation of MgH2–TiH2@Gr, which leads to the conversion of some part of TiH2 into TiH1.924. TiH2 together with TiH1.924 works as a better catalyst than TiH2 alone. The second is ball-milling of TiH2@Gr, which produces defective graphene, which also works as co-catalyst. The third is anchoring of TiH2 on graphene, which does not allow the catalyst to agglomerate. The catalytic effect of TiH2@Gr on MgH2 is found to be better than Ti@Gr and TiO2@Gr. The onset desorption temperature for MgH2–TiH2@Gr is ~204 °C, which is 31 °C and 36 °C lower than MgH2–Ti@Gr, MgH2–TiO2@Gr respectively. The better catalytic behavior of TiH2@Gr also persists during de/re-hydrogenation kinetics and cycling study of MgH2. The feasible mechanism for superior catalytic for TiH2@Gr on MgH2 has been put forward.