Kj. Gross et al., MECHANICALLY MILLED MG COMPOSITES FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORPHOLOGY AND KINETICS, Journal of alloys and compounds, 269(1-2), 1998, pp. 259-270
Magnesium based alloys are potentially the best materials for gaseous
hydrogen storage due to their high capacity per weight. Unfortunately,
their practical use is limited by poor hydrogen absorption and desorp
tion kinetics. This problem can be overcome by mechanically milling Mg
alloys with other phases to catalyze the hydriding and dissociation r
eactions. We have investigated composites formed by mechanically milli
ng La2Mg17 with LaNi5. The hydrogen absorption and desorption rates of
these composites were maximized by the addition of 40 wt. % LaNi5. Th
e kinetics for this composition proved far superior to those of the ba
se La2Mg17 component. It absorbed 95% of its full hydrogen capacity (3
.7 wt. %H-2) in 27 a at 250 degrees C and desorbed the same quantity o
f hydrogen in 4 min. Under the same conditions pure La2Mg17 took 32 mi
n to absorb and 3 h to desorb 95% of its full hydrogen capacity (5.0 w
t. % H-2). Understanding the mechanisms behind the improved kinetics o
f these composites is critical for the development of better hydrogen
storage materials. It is known that, after a few hydrogen absorption-d
esorption cycles at high temperatures (300 degrees C), the composites
are transformed into a very fine powder matrix (grain size similar to
1 mu m) of La, Mg and Mg2Ni. The enhanced properties of this new compo
site are due to changes in its microscopic morphology and catalytic in
teractions between the three new component phases. SEM, Microprobe and
XPS depth profiling have been used to investigate the complex morphol
ogy of the composite particles. 'Full kinetics' and 'incremental kinet
ics' measurements were performed to compare the absorption and desorpt
ion rates of the main hydriding phases. These measurements demonstrate
the relationships which exist between the component phases and their
contribution to the excellent overall kinetics of these composite mate
rials. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.