Highly stable novel inorganic hydrides from aqueous electrolysis and plasma electrolysis

After 10⁴ h of continuous aqueous electrolysis with K₂CO₃ as the electrolyte, highly stable novel inorganic hydride compounds such as KH KHCO₃ and KH were isolated and identified by time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS). The existence of novel hydride ions was determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and solid state magic-angle spinning proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H MAS NMR). A novel hydride ion formed by plasma electrolysis of a K₂CO₃, Rb₂CO₃, or Cs₂CO₃ electrolyte was also observed by high resolution visible spectroscopy at 407.0 nm corresponding to its predicted binding energy of 3.05 eV.