Improvement of Hydrogen Storage Properties of La0.6M0.4Ni4.8Mn0.2 Alloys

Investigation has been carried out to find the effects of Nd substitution and Cu addition on the hydrogen storage properties of AB5-type alloy with a multicomponent La0.6M0.4Ni4.8Mn0.2 (M=Y, Nd) system. La0.6Y0.4Ni4.8Mn0.2,which was used in an air-conditioning system, showed poor hysteresis and sloping characteristics, which led to a decrease concerning the coefficient of performance of the system. By the substitution of Nd for Y, the hydrogenstorage capacity increased, and the plateau pressure decreased a little, but the hydrogen absorption kinetics decreased dramatically. Cu addition can effectively improve the kinetics of hydride formation without changing the hydrogen storage capacity of La0.6Nd0.4Ni4.8Mn0.2. It has been found that La0.6Nd0.4Ni4.8Mn0.2Cu0.1 alloy showed good hydrogen storage characteristics for metal hydride air-conditioning system. The results showed that, for each component of La0.6Mo.4Ni4.8Mn0.2, the effective hydrogen storage capacity increased with decrease of the unit cell parameter c/a and the hydrogen absorption plateau pressure increased with decrease of the parameter a.