Gremaud, Robin Borgschulte, A. Chacon, C. Mechelen, J. L. M. van Schreuders, H. Züttel, Andreas Hjörvarsson, B. Dam, B. Griessen, R. 2006 The structural, optical and dc electrical properties of Mg_xAl_1-x (0.2≤x≤0.9) gradient thin films covered with Pd/Mg are investigated before and after exposure to hydrogen. We use hydrogenography, a novel high-throughput optical technique, to map simultaneously all the hydride forming compositions and the kinetics thereof in the gradient thin film. Metallic Mg in the Mg_xAl_1-x layer undergoes a metal-to-semiconductor transition and MgH₂ is formed for all Mg fractions <i>x</i> investigated. The presence of an amorphous Mg-Al phase in the thin film phase diagram enhances strongly the kinetics of hydrogenation. In the Al-rich part of the film, a complex H-induced segregation of MgH₂ and Al occurs. This uncommon large-scale segregation is evidenced by metal and hydrogen profiling using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and resonant nuclear analysis based on the reaction ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C. Besides MgH₂, an additional semiconducting phase is found by electrical conductivity measurements around an atomic [Al]/[Mg] ratio of 2 (x=0.33). This suggests that the film is partially transformed into Mg(AlH₄)₂ at around this composition. application/pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/299964 https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/299964/files/gremaud_sop.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s00339-006-3579-z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Applied Physics A. - 2006, vol. 84, no. 1-2, p. 77-85 info:eu-repo/classification/udc/53 Structural and optical properties of Mg_xAl_1-xH_y gradient thin films: a combinatorial approach http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501