Magnesium hydride is a very promising material for solid-state hydrogen storage. However, some drawbacks have to be overcome to use it in real applications. The use of catalysts is a viable solution to lower the desorption temperature and increase the overall kinetics. An accurate model has been developed to study the mechanism of action of the catalyst and how it interacts with the interface MgH2-Mg, through which H atoms diffuse. The accurate evaluation of the work of adhesion and defect energy formation, versus the distance from the interface are linked to the atomic-scale structural distortion induced by the catalyst. Moreover, molecular dynamics simulations at several temperature provide a clear description of the desorption mechanism and an estimate of the desorption temperature. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.