Improved hydrogen storage behaviours of nanocrystalline and amorphous Mg2Ni-type alloy by Mn substitution for Ni

The nanocrystalline and amorphous Mg2Ni-type alloys with nominal compositions of Mg2Ni1-xMnx (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) were synthesized by melt spinning technique. The structures of the as-cast and spun alloys were characterized by XRD, SEM and HRTEM. The hydrogen absorption and desorption kinetics of the alloys were measured by an automatically controlled Sieverts apparatus. The electrochemical hydrogen storage performances were tested by an automatic galvanostatic system. The results show that the as-spun (x = 0) alloy holds a typical nanocrystalline structure, whereas the as-spun (x = 0.4) alloy displays a nanocrystalline and amorphous structure, confirming that the substitution of Mn for Ni facilitates the glass formation in the Mg2Ni-type alloy. The hydrogen absorption capacity of the alloys first increases then decreases with rising Mn content, but the hydrogen desorption capacity of the alloys grows with increasing Mn content. Furthermore, the substitution of Mn for Ni significantly improves the electrochemical hydrogen storage performances of the alloys, involving both the discharge capacity and the electrochemical cycle stability. With an increase in the amount of Mn from 0 to 0.4, the discharge capacity of as-spun (30 m/s) alloy grows from 116.7 to 311.5 mAh/g, and its capacity retaining rate at 20th charging and discharging cycle rises from 36.7 to 78.7%. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.