Vibrational properties of CaAlH5 and α-AlH3 with different AlH6 networks studied by inelastic neutron scattering.

We performed a combined study using inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and first-principles calculations of the vibrational properties of CaAlH(5) and α-AlH(3) with different AlH(6) networks, a zigzag one-dimensional AlH(6) network for CaAlH(5), and a three-dimensional AlH(6) network for α-AlH(3). Both materials showed qualitatively similar INS spectra, in which CaAlH(5)/α-AlH(3) was mainly divided into three regions: (i) the translational modes (318/316 cm(-1)), (ii) the librational modes of the octahedral AlH(6) units (external molecular motion) in the lower frequency range and H-Al-H bond-bending modes (intra molecular motion) at a higher frequency (420-1157/513-1038 cm(-1)), and (iii) the Al-H bond-stretching modes (1238-1750/1486-1942 cm(-1)). In region ii, the appearance of both librational and bond-bending modes was determined by the networked nature of the octahedral AlH(6) units. In addition, the librational modes of AlH(6) on α-AlH(3) exhibit higher frequencies than CaAlH(5) due to the tighter bonding between the octahedral AlH(6) units. With regard to average frequencies for the Al-H, ω(S), bond-stretching modes, and average Al-H bond distances on the aluminum-based hydrides including CaAlH(5) and α-AlH(3), ω(S) showed lower frequencies that correlate with lengthening of the Al-H bond distances.