Proton spin-lattice relaxation time in the dihydride phase of the ternary TiNbH alloy

The proton spin-lattice relaxation time T1 is measured in the Ti1-xNbxH1.94 system as a function of niobium concentration and temperature. It is found that below room temperature the conduction electrons are mainly responsible for the relaxation. (T1)eT ranged from (65 ± 1) sK to (133 ± 5) sK as x varied from 0.05 to 0.65 thus indicating that the density of states at the Fermi level is reduced at increasing niobium concentration. For Ti-rich samples the changes of (T1)eT with temperature caused by the Jahn-Teller effect are observed. At higher temperatures the proton self-diffusion takes place with the activation energy of 7.4 kcal/mole for Ti0.35Nb0.65H1.94.