Hydrogen storage and low-temperature electrochemical performances of A2B7 type La-Mg-Ni-Co-Al-Mo alloys

Abstract

The effect of Mo-addition on hydrogen storage and low-temperature electrochemical performances of La-Mg-Ni-Co-Al alloys is investigated. The alloys were synthetized via vacuum induction melting followed by annealing treatment at 1123K for 8h. The major phases in the annealed alloys are consisted of (La, Mg)2Ni7, (La, Mg)5Ni19 and LaNi5 phases. Mo-addition facilitates phase transformation of LaNi5 into (La, Mg)2Ni7 and (La, Mg)5Ni19 phases. Hydrogen absorption/desorption PCI curves indicates that the hydrogen storage capacity of the alloy increases remarkably with the addition of Mo. Furthermore, the La0.75Mg0.25Ni3.05Co0.2Al0.05Mo0.2 alloy shows excellent hydriding/dehydriding kinetics with a higher capacity, requiring only 100s to reach its saturated hydrogen capacity of 1.58wt% at low temperature of 303K, and releasing 1.57wt% hydrogen within 400s at 338K. Electrochemical experiments manifest that the Mo-added alloy electrode has perfect activation properties and the maximum discharge capacity. The low-temperature dischargeability shows that the La0.75Mg0.25Ni3.05Co0.2Al0.05Mo0.2 alloy exhibits the excellent low-temperature discharge performance, and the maximum discharge capacity is improved from 231.0 to 334.6mAh/g at 253K. The HRD property of the alloy electrode is enhanced, suggesting that Mo enhances the kinetic ability at low-temperature.