The development of hydrogen storage alloys and the progress of nickel hydride batteries

In this paper, we discuss the fundamentals of a hydrogen storage alloy used as the active material in a hydride electrode and the operation principle of a rechargeable nickel hydride (NiMH) battery. We also describe briefly a semi-empirical electrochemical-thermodynamic approach to develop/screen a hydrogen storage alloy for electrochemical application. Finally, the curren t state of the NiMH batteries including commercial manufacture process, cel l performance and applications is given. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.