The activation of Mg2Ni for initial hydrogen uptake by treatment with water vapor

The alloy, Mg2Ni, is a good candidate for the storage of hydrogen. One prob lem associated with the use of this alloy for hydrogen storage is the diffi culty of its activation for initial hydrogen uptake. A great deal of resear ch has been done in this area. However, the resulting methods require hazar dous conditions and reagents and/or prohibitively long periods of time. It has been found in this laboratory that water vapor can be used to activate Mg2Ni for hydrogen uptake in as little as 1 h at ambient temperature and pr essure. This finding is particularly interesting considering the long-held view of water acting as a poison in metallic hydrogen storage systems. (C) 1999 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.