%0 journal article %@ 1359-6454 %A Boesenberg, U.,Kim, J.W.,Gosslar, D.,Eigen, N.,Jensen, T.R.,Bellosta von Colbe, J.M.,Zhou, Y.,Dahms, M.,Kim, D.H.,Guenther, R.,Cho, Y.W.,Oh, K.H.,Klassen, T.,Bormann, R.,Dornheim, M. %D 2010 %J Acta Materialia %N 9 %P 3381-3389 %R doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2010.02.012 %T Role of Additives in LiBH4-MgH2 Reactive Hydride Composite sorption reactions %U https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2010.02.012 9 %X The influence of additives on the reaction kinetics and microstructure refinement in LiBH4–MgH2 composites is investigated in detail. Indications of the rate-limiting processes during the reactions are obtained by comparison of the measured reaction kinetics with simulations with one specific rate-limiting process. The kinetics of the sorption reactions are derived from volumetric measurements as well as from in situ X-ray diffraction measurements. During desorption, the hydrogen is released at a constant rate, which is possibly correlated with the one-dimensional growth of MgB2 platelets. In contrast, the kinetic curves of the absorption reactions exhibit the typical shape of contracting-volume controlled kinetics. The microscopical interpretation of kinetic measurements are supported by transmission electron microscopy images confirming the formation of additive-nanostructures in the grain boundaries upon cycling. The present investigations underline the importance of the additives as nucleation substrates and the influence of microstructure on the reaction kinetics.