Cerium in various chemical forms was introduced into NaAlH_4 to study the hydrogen sorption properties of the resulted material. Although all the Ce precursors tested in this work resulted in a reversible hydrogen storage material, an immediate enhancement in the desorption kinetics could be achieved by a heating treatment, resulting in the in situ formation of cerium aluminide (CeAl_4) in the material. While the use of CeAl_4 instead of CeCl_3 can increase the hydrogen capacity by bypassing the formation of the ineffective NaCl, the highest capacity of 4.9 wt% was obtained from NaAlH_4 doped directly with commercial metallic cerium, which may provide a much simplified process for a possible up-scaling preparation of this hydrogen storage material.
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