Metallic Glass Films with Nanostructured Periodic Density Fluctuations Supported on Si/SiO2 as an Efficient Hydrogen Sorber

Nanostructured metallic glass films (NMGF) can exhibit surface and intrinsic effects that give rise to unique physical and chemical properties. Here, a facile synthesis and electrochemical, structural, and morphologic characterization of Pd‐Au‐Si based MGs of approximately 50 nm thickness supported on Si/SiO2 is reported. Impressively, the maximum total hydrogen charge stored in the Pd‐Au‐Si nanofilm is equal to that in polycrystalline Pd films with 1 μm thickness in 0.1 m H2SO4 electrolyte. The same NMGF has a volumetric desorption charge that is more than eight times and 25 % higher than that of polycrystalline PdNF and Pd‐Cu‐Si NMGF with the same thickness supported on Si/SiO2, respectively. A significant number of nanovoids originating from PdHx crystals, and an increase in the average interatomic spacing is detected in Pd‐Au‐Si NMGF by high‐resolution TEM. Such a high amount of hydrogen sorption is linked to the unique density fluctuations without any chemical segregation exclusively observed for this NMGF. Heart of (metallic) glass: Efficient hydrogen storage and release by using new‐generation nanostructured metallic glass films (NMGFs) offer green solutions for nano‐scale energy applications. This study introduces Pd‐Au‐Si based metallic glass with unique atomic density fluctuations sputtered on a Si/SiO2 electrode and their electrochemical, structural, and morphologic properties (see figure).