High hydrogen desorption properties of Mg-based nanocomposite at moderate temperatures: The effects of multiple catalysts in situ formed by adding nickel sulfides/graphene

Nickel sulfides decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been produced by co-reducing Ni²⁺ and graphene oxide (GO), and is subsequently ball milled with Mg nanoparticles (NPs) produced by hydrogen plasma metal reaction (HPMR). The nickel sulfides of about 800 nm completely in situ change to MgS, Mg₂Ni and Ni multiple catalysts after first hydrogenation/dehydrogenation process at 673 K. The Mg-5wt%NiS/rGO nanocomposite shows the highest hydrogen desorption kinetics and capacity properties, and the catalytic effect order of the additives is NiS/rGO, NiS and rGO. At 573 K, the Mg-NiS/rGO nanocomposite can quickly desorb 3.7 wt% H₂ in 10 min and 4.5 wt% H₂ in 60 min. The apparent hydrogen absorption and desorption activation energies of the Mg-5wt%NiS/rGO nanocomposite are decreased to 44.47 and 63.02 kJ mol⁻¹, smaller than those of the Mg-5wt%rGO and Mg-5wt%NiS samples. The best hydrogen desorption properties of the Mg-5wt%NiS/rGO nanocomposite can be explained by the synergistic catalytic effects of the highly dispersed MgS, Mg₂Ni and Ni catalysts on the rGO sheets, and the more nucleation sites between the catalysts, rGO sheets and Mg matrix.