STUDY OF POLYSUBSTITUTED INTERMETALLIC HYDRIDES - ELECTROCHEMICAL APPLICATIONS

Nowadays, growing interest is devoted to the use of intermetallic comp ounds for hydrogen storage and various applications are foreseen (1,2) : heat pumps, electrodes for batteries... The reasons for this increas ing interest is linked to both fundamental aspects and application out look. From the fundamental point of view, the study of the physical pr operty evolution of hydrogenated compounds allows to determine the dri ving forces of the hydrogenation characteristics. The electrochemical application seems to be very promising at the industrial level due to the large development of portable goods such as computers or tools. Ni ckel-hydride batteries using polysubstituted LaNi5-type compounds are already on the market (3). Nickel-hydride cells, in which the negative electrode is obtained from an intermetallic compound able to store hy drogen reversibly are indeed good candidates to replace cadmium in Ni- Cd batteries which are problematic terms of cost and environment.