The invention relates to powdery, highly reactive alkali and alkaline earth hydride compounds, and to mixtures with elements of the third main group of the periodic table of elements (PTE) and to the preparation thereof by reacting alkali or alkaline earth metals in the presence of finely dispersed metals or compounds of the third main group of the PTE, wherein the latter have one or more hydride ligands or said hydride ligands are converted in situ, under the prevailing reaction conditions, i.e., in the presence of hydrogen gas or another H source, into hydride species, and to the use thereof for the preparation of complex hydrides and organometallic compounds.

A method of purifying aqueous solubilized lithium compounds from other aqueous solubilized or suspended metal salts, including radioactive elemental ions, is described. The method also may purify aqueous solubilized lithium from aqueous solubilized or suspended organic and other contaminants.

A method is provided for making alkali metal hydrides by mechanochemically reacting alkali metal and hydrogen gas under mild temperature (e.g room temperature) and hydrogen pressure conditions without the need for catalyst, solvent, and intentional heating or cooling.

A method is provided for making alkali metal hydrides by mechanochemically reacting alkali metal and hydrogen gas under mild temperature (e.g room temperature) and hydrogen pressure conditions without the need for catalyst, solvent, and intentional heating or cooling.

Reagent complexes have two or more elements, formally in oxidation state zero, complexed with a hydride molecule. Complexation with the hydride molecule may be evidenced by shifts to lower binding energies, of one or more electrons in each of the two or more elements, as observed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The reagents can be useful for the synthesis of multi-element nanoparticles. Preparation of the reagents can be achieved by ball-milling a mixture that includes powders of two or more elements and a hydride molecule.

A method for efficiently producing a high-purity metal hydride without contamination of other metals while initiating reaction rapidly is provided. A method for producing a metal hydride from a metal selected from the group consisting of Group 2 metals and Group 3 metals comprising: (A) charging the pressure resistant container with the metal, introducing hydrogen into the container, and heating the container to initiate reaction, wherein a gauge pressure (a) is set to 0.1 to 1.5 MPa, a heating temperature (b) is set to 50 to 250 C., and a product of the gauge pressure and the heating temperature, ab, is set in the range of 20 to 100; (B) stopping the introduction of hydrogen to allow the reaction to proceed when the temperature in the reaction container is increased to a temperature higher by 10 to 100 C. than the heating temperature; (C) introducing hydrogen of 0.1 to 1.5 MPa to allow the reaction to proceed when the temperature in the reaction container is decreased to the temperature at which the introduction of the hydrogen has been stopped; and (D) repeating the steps (B) and (C) until an increase in temperature does not occur in the reaction container after the introduction of the hydrogen.

A method for efficiently producing a high-purity metal hydride without contamination of other metals while initiating reaction rapidly is provided. A method for producing a metal hydride from a metal selected from the group consisting of Group 2 metals and Group 3 metals comprising: (A) charging the pressure resistant container with the metal, introducing hydrogen into the container, and heating the container to initiate reaction, wherein a gauge pressure (a) is set to 0.1 to 1.5 MPa, a heating temperature (b) is set to 50 to 250 C., and a product of the gauge pressure and the heating temperature, ab, is set in the range of 20 to 100; (B) stopping the introduction of hydrogen to allow the reaction to proceed when the temperature in the reaction container is increased to a temperature higher by 10 to 100 C. than the heating temperature; (C) introducing hydrogen of 0.1 to 1.5 MPa to allow the reaction to proceed when the temperature in the reaction container is decreased to the temperature at which the introduction of the hydrogen has been stopped; and (D) repeating the steps (B) and (C) until an increase in temperature does not occur in the reaction container after the introduction of the hydrogen.

A method is provided for making alkali metal hydrides by mechanochemically reacting alkali metal and hydrogen gas under mild temperature (e.g room temperature) and hydrogen pressure conditions without the need for catalyst, solvent, and intentional heating or cooling.

A method is provided for making alkali metal hydrides by mechanochemically reacting alkali metal and hydrogen gas under mild temperature (e.g room temperature) and hydrogen pressure conditions without the need for catalyst, solvent, and intentional heating or cooling.

The composition for hydrogen storage is a composite of MgH.sub.2 powder and a metallic glassy Zr.sub.70Ni.sub.20Pd.sub.10 powder. Preferably, the metallic glassy Zr.sub.70Ni.sub.20Pd.sub.10 powder forms about 5 wt % of the composition for hydrogen storage. The composition for hydrogen storage is prepared by mixing MgH.sub.2 powder and Zr.sub.70Ni.sub.20Pd.sub.10 powder to form a mixture, and then performing reactive ball milling on the mixture. Preferably, the reactive ball milling is performed under 50 bar of hydrogen gas atmosphere for a period of 50 hours.