Study on the Improvement of the Electrochemical Characteristics of Surface-modified V-Ti-Cr alloy by Ball-milling

Vanadium based solid solution alloys have been studied as a potential negative electrode of Ni/MH battery due to their high hydrogen storage capacity. In order to improve the kinetic property of V-Ti alloy in KOH electrolyte, the ball-milling process with Ni, which has a catalytic effect of hydrogen absorption/desorption, was carried out to modify the surface properties of V-Ti-Cr alloys with high hydrogen storage capacity. Moreover, to overcome the problem of poor cycle life, V-Ti alloy substituted by Cr, V0.68 Ti0.20 Cr0.12, has been developed showing a good cycle performance (keeping about 80 % of initial discharge capacity after 200 cycles). The cycle life of surface-modified V0.68 Ti0.20 Cr0.12 alloy was improved by suppressing the formation of TiO2 layer on the alloy surface while decreasing the amount of dissolved vanadium in the KOH electrolyte. In order to promote the effect of Ni coating on the surface property of V0.68 Ti 0.20 Cr 0.12 alloy by ball-milling, filamentary-typed Ni, which has higher surface coverage area than sphere-typed Ni was used as a surface modifier. Consequently, the surface-modified V0.68 Ti0.20 Cr0.12 alloy electrode showed a improved discharge capacity of 460 mAh/g.