Hydrogen Gas Phase and Electrochemical Hydriding of LaNi5-xMx (M = Sn, Co, Al) Alloys.

Hydriding/dehydriding properties of a series of LaNi5 based alloys were compared by applying both hydrogen gas phase and electrochemical hydrogen charge/discharge methods. The highest hydrogen absorption capacity of 1.4 wt.% H2 was found for LaNi4.3Co0.4Al0.3, although LaNi4.8Sn0.2 also reveals comparable hydrogen capacity (>1.3%). A significant difference in the hydriding kinetics was observed for all studied alloys before and after activation. The activated alloys (5 cycles at 65 °C, 40 atm. H2) reach their maximum capacities after less than a minute, whereas the pure LaNi5 alloy needs several minutes for complete hydriding. The electrochemical hydriding/dehydriding behavior of the alloys reveals superior performance of LaNi4.3Co0.4Al0.3 and LaNi4.8Sn0.2 compared to the other compositions studied, as the capacity of LaNi4.8Sn0.2 decreases by only 10% for 60 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 100 mA/g. Good agreement between the hydrogen sorption kinetics of the alloys obtained electrochemically and from hydrogen gas phase has also been observed.