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Structural Evolution Of Ammonia Borane For Hydrogen Storage, Jinbo Yang, Jagat Lamsal, Qingsheng Cai, William B. Yelon, William Joseph James

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We have studied the crystal structure of fully deuterated BH3NH3 using powder neutron diffraction at different temperatures. It is evident that an order-disorder phase transition occurs around 225 K. At low temperature, the compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic structure with space group Pnm21 and gradually transforms to a high temperature tetragonal structure with space group I4 mm above 225 K. At 16 K, the BD3-ND3 unit stacks along the c axis with a tilt angle of about 16° between the N-B bond and the c axis. As the temperature is increased, the BD3-ND3 groups start to reorient along the c …