Zirconium(II) hydride
Script error: No such module "For". Template:Chembox Zirconium(II) hydride is a molecular chemical compound with the chemical formula Template:Chem2. It is a grey crystalline solid or dark gray to black powder.[1] It has been prepared by laser ablation and isolated at low temperature.[2]
Zirconium(II) hydride has repeatedly been the subject of Dirac–Hartree–Fock relativistic calculation studies, which investigate the stabilities, geometries, and relative energies of hydrides of the formula Template:Chem2, Template:Chem2, Template:Chem2, or MH.
Zirconium(II) hydride has a dihedral (C2v) structure. In zirconium(II) hydride, the formal oxidation states of zirconium and hydrogen are +2 and −1, respectively, because the electronegativity of zirconium is lower than that of hydrogen. The stability of metal hydrides with the formula Template:Chem2 (M = Ti, Zr, Hf) decreases from Ti to Hf.
Uses
Zirconium(II) hydride is used as a thermal neutron moderator in nuclear reactors and as a material for neutron reflectors in fast reactors.[3]
Zirconium(II) hydride in the form of a powder is used in powder metallurgy as a hydrogenation catalyst, vacuum tube getter, foaming agent in the production of metal foams and as a reducing agent.[3]