Fe-Substitution for Ni in Misch Metal-Based Superlattice Hydrogen Absorbing Alloys—Part 1. Structural, Hydrogen Storage, and Electrochemical Properties

Abstract

The effects of Fe partially replacing Ni in a misch metal-based superlattice hydrogen absorbing alloy (HAA) were studied. Addition of Fe increases the lattice constants and abundance of the main Ce2Ni7 phase, decreases the NdNi3 phase abundance, and increases the CaCu5 phase when the Fe content is above 2.3 at%. For the gaseous phase hydrogen storage (H-storage), Fe incorporation does not change the storage capacity or equilibrium pressure, but it does decrease the change in both entropy and enthalpy. With regard to electrochemistry, >2.3 at% Fe decreases both the full and high-rate discharge capacities due to the deterioration in both bulk transport (caused by decreased secondary phase abundance and consequent lower synergetic effect) and surface electrochemical reaction (caused by the lower volume of the surface metallic Ni inclusions). In a low-temperature environment (−40 °C), although Fe increases the reactive surface area, it also severely hinders the ability of the surface catalytic, leading to a net increase in surface charge-transfer resistance. Even though Fe increases the abundance of the beneficial Ce2Ni7 phase with a trade-off for the relatively unfavorable NdNi3 phase, it also deteriorates the electrochemical performance due to a less active surface. Therefore, further surface treatment methods that are able to increase the surface catalytic ability in Fe-containing superlattice alloys and potentially reveal the positive contributions that Fe provides structurally are worth investigating in the future.

Keywords

• metal hydride (MH)
• nickel/metal hydride (Ni/MH) battery
• hydrogen absorbing alloy (HAA)
• electrochemistry
• superlattice alloy