Hydrides hydrogen diffusion

Hafnium begins to react with nitrogen at about 900°C to form a surface nitride film, and reacts rapidly with hydrogen at about 700°C to form hydrides (qv). The hydrogen diffuses rapidly and converts the bulk metal into the brittle hydride. 

Moreover, in the case of hydride intervention, still a further factor, namely the kinetics of hydrogen diffusion into the metal, influences also the overall kinetics by removing a reactant from a reaction zone. In order to compare the velocity of reaction of hydrogen, catalyzed by palladium, with the velocity of the same reaction proceeding on the palladium hydride catalyst, it might be necessary to conduct the kinetic investigations under conditions when no hydride formation is possible and also when a specially prepared hydride is present in the system from the very beginning. 

A striking property of many interstitial metal hydrides is the high rate of hydrogen diffusion through the solid at slightly elevated temperatures. This mobility is utilized in the ultra-purification of H2 by diffusion through a palladium-silver alloy tube. 

The hydride is also prepared electrochemically by cathodic charging of Ti in 1 N HjSO. Hydride formation, however, is limited to a thin surface layer owing to slow hydrogen diffusion. 

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