The synthesis and hydrogenation behaviour of some new composite storage materials: Mg-xwt% FeTi(Mn) and La2Mg17-xwt% LaNi5

Abstract

Abstract The composite alloys La 2 Mg 17 - x wt% LaNi 5 and Mg- x wt% FeTi(Mn) have been successfully synthesized and the hydriding behaviours of these materials were studied for various values of x . Both these systems have been found to possess characteristics which are superior to the individual storage systems alone. In contrast to La 2 Mg 17 , hydrogen storage capacities of 5.24wt% with 3–4 times faster kinetics have been obtained for La 2 Mg 17 - x wt% LaNi 5 . For Mg-40wt% FeTi(Mn), the optimum storage capacity in relation to their reversible characteristic has been found to be about 3.5wt% even at ambient conditions, which is almost double the storage capacity of well-known FeTi(Mn) (∼ 1.9). In order to understand the hydrogenation behaviour and high storage capacity, structural/microstructural characteristics and chemical analyses of these composite materials were carried out employing the XRD, SEM and EDAX techniques.