Hydriding and dehydriding kinetics of melt spun nanocrystalline Mg20Ni10-xCux (x = 0-4) alloys

Abstract

The nanocrystalline Mg2Ni-type electrode alloys with nominal compositions of Mg20Ni10-xCux (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) were synthesized by melt-spinning technique. The microstructures of the alloys were characterized by XRD, SEM and HRTEM. The hydrogen absorption and desorption kinet-ics of the alloys were measured using an auto-matically controlled Sieverts apparatus. The re- sults show that all the as-spun alloys hold ty- pical nanocrystalline structure. The substitution of Cu for Ni does not change the major phase Mg2Ni but it leads to the formation of the sec-ondary phase Mg2Cu. The hydrogen absorption capacity of the alloys first increases and then decreases with rising Cu content, but the hy-drogen desorption capacity of the alloys mono- tonously grows with increasing Cu content. The melt spinning significantly improves the hydro- genation and dehydrogenation capacities and kinetics of the alloys.