• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.367-372
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• 2013

Hydrogen storage as a metal hydride is the most promising alternative because of its relatively large hydrogen storage capacities near room temperature. TiMn2-based C14 Laves phases alloys are one of the promising hydrogen storage materials with easy activation, good hydriding-dehydriding kinetics, high hydrogen storage capacity and relatively low cost. In this work, multi-component, hyper-stoichiometric $Ti_{0.85}Zr_{0.13}(Fe_x-V)_{0.56}Mn_{1.47}Ni_{0.05}$ C14 Laves phase alloys were prepared by a vacuum induction melting for a hydrogen storage tank. Since pure vanadium (V) is quite expensive, the substitution of the V element in these alloys has been tried and some interesting results were achieved by replacing V by commercial ferrovanadium (FeV) raw material. In addition, the melt-spinning process, which was applied to the manufacturing of some of these alloys, could make the plateau slopes much flatter, which resulted in the increase of reversible hydrogen storage capacity. The improvement of sloping properties of melt-spun $Ti_{0.85}Zr_{0.13}(Fe_x-V)_{0.56}Mn_{1.47}Ni_{0.05}$ alloys was mainly attributed to the homogeneity of chemical composition.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 1993

The hydrogen absorption and desorption characteristics of microencapsulated (CFM)$Ni_{4.7}Al_{0.2}Fe_{0.1}$ and $MmNi_4Fe$ powder with Ni and/or Cu by means of chemical plating method have been investigated. Initial hydrogen absorption rate and activation property were increased remarkably by encapsulation and subsequent compacting. Pellets abtained by compacting of Cu-encapsulated fine powder have fairly good strength even after 30 cycles of hydriding and dehydriding. Encapsulated alloy powder and their compacts show a good resistance to degradation by $O_2$ or CO in hydrogen.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.137-141
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• 1997

The effects of Ag addition to Zr-based hydrogen storage alloys ($Zr_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.4}$, $Zr_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.3}Cr_{0.1}$ and $Zr_{0.6}Ti_{0.4}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.3}Fe_{0.1}$) on the electrode properties were examined. Ag-free and Ag-added Ze-based alloys were prepared by arc melting, crushed mechanically, and subjected to the electrochemical measurement. In $Zr_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.4}$ alloy, 0.08 wt% Ag addition to the alloy improved the activation rate. Also Ag addition improved both activation property and discharge capacity in $Zr_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.3}Cr_{0.1}$. For these Ag-added alloys, discharge capacities with the change of charge-discharge current density(10mA, 15mA and 30mA) are almost constant. Showing very high rate capability, discharge capacity of $Zr_{0.6}Ti_{0.4}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.3}Fe_{0.1}$ alloy increased by Ag addition to the alloy. When the amount of Ag addition in $Zr_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}V_{0.4}Ni_{1.2}Mn_{0.4}$ alloy increased too much, the electrode properties became worse. Unveiling mechanism of effect of Ag addition is now progressing in our laboratory.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.161-171
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• 1997

$AB_2$ type Zr-based Laves phase alloys have been studied for potential application as negative electrode in Ni/MH batteries. However, They have a serious disadvantage of poor activation behavior in KOH solution. In this work, a new method of alloy design method was tried for improving Zr-based alloy activation. this method has focused on phase controlling to make multi-phase microstructure. In the case of multi-phase Zr-V-Mn-Ni shows good performance in activation, but activation mechanism has not been known. So, we were in search of elucidating this mechanism, Using morphological and electrochemical analysis, we could find that surface morphology and electocatalytic activity of the alloy change during immersion in KOH solution. V-rich second phases are selectively corroded and dissolved and then become Ni-rich phases. Resulting from these surface reaction in KOH solution, self-hydrogen charging occurs through Ni-rich phase. However, the alloy has poor cyclic durability because of such a corrosion mechanism. Therefore, finally we developed durable alloys by substitution of other alloying element.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 1999

The charge-discharge characteristics of the $Mg_2Ni-x$ wt.%Nd (x = 0~3) electrodes were investigated. The electrodes were prepared by the mechanical grinding of the induction-melted $Mg_2Ni$ alloy powders with Ni and/or Nd using planetary ball mill apparatus. The discharge capacity of the $Mg_2Ni$ alloy increased with the increase in the nickel content. The electrode possessing 100 wt.% nickel powder showed the initial capacity of 760 mAh/g and the capacity decay with the cycle number was less than that of the 55 wt.% nickel powder. The Nd was added to this composition. It was found that the $Mg_2Ni-100$ wt.%Ni -0.2 wt.%Nd alloy showed an excellent charge-discharge cycle characteristics compared with the other reported Mg-Ni alloy system. The discharge capacity was 400 mAh/g after 70 cycles. Such an improved cycle life seems to be attributed to the improvement in the corrosion characteristics of the alloy. The anodic polarization curve of the $Mg_2Ni-100$ wt.%Ni-0.2 wt.%Nd alloy exhibited better passivating behavior than that of the $Mg_2Ni-100$ wt.%Ni.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.9-15
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• 1992

Electroless copper plating method using an alkaline bath have been employed in copper coating of the (LM)Ni4.5Co0.1MnO.2A10.2 hydrogen storage alloy powders for electrode preparation. The plating were conducted without any pretreatment of alloy powders. For the preparation of the electrodes, about 0.12g of the copper coated alloy powder (copper to alloy ratio 1/3 by weight) was compacted with pressure of 6 tons/cm2 at room temperature. The disk-type compacts had a diameter of 10mm and thickness of about 0.24mm. The electrode characteristics were examined through SEM observations and electrochemical measurements in a half cell. The electrochemical measurement showed that the maximum discharge capacity of the electrodes prepared by using alkaline bath were 245mAh per gram of coated alloy (327mAh per gram of alloy) and appeared a considerable degradation with increasing number of cycles. The decrease of the discharge capacity after 100 cycles was about 30% It can be suggested that, with a slight of improvement, this electroless copper plating method could be applied to the preparation of the rare earth-nickel based alloy electrode.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.482-489
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• 2008

Ti-Cr alloys consist of BCC solid solution, C36, C14 and C15 Laves phase at high temperature. Among others, the BCC solid solution phase was reported to have a high hydrogen storage capacity. However, activation, wide range of hysteresis at hydrogenation/dehydrogenation, and degradation of hydrogen capacity due to hydriding/dehydriding cycles must be improved for its application. In this study, to improve such problems, we added a Nb. For attaining target materials, Ti-10Cr-xNb(x=1, 3, 5wt.%) specimens were prepared by arc melting. The arc melting process was carried out under argon atmosphere. As-received specimens were characterized using XRD(X-ray diffraction), SEM(Scanning Electron Microscopy) with EDX(Energy Dispersive X-ray) and TG/DSC(Thermo Gravimetric Analysis/Differential Scanning Calorimetry). In order to examine hydrogenation behavior, the PCI(pressure-Composition-Isotherm) was performed at 293, 323, 373 and 423K.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.289-296
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• 2008

Electrochemical studies were performed by a half-cell test for the nickel hydroxide (cathode) and hydrogen storage alloy(anode) electrodes for the sealed Ni-MH batteries applicable to industrial use. The electrodes were fabricated and checked a charge efficiency and an internal pressure of the battery during charge-discharge cycling. In order to reduce the internal pressure of the sealed Ni-MH battery, cyclic voltammetry (CV) were performed on the electrodes of nickel hydroxide(cathode) and hydrogen storage alloy(anode), respectively. The results of the test showed clearly the oxidation/reduction and oxygen evolution reaction in a nickel hydroxide electrode and the hydrogenation behavior of a hydrogen storage electrode. The sealed Ni-MH battery of 130Ah was fabricated by using nickel hydroxide of a high over-voltage for an oxygen gas evolution and hydrogen storage alloy of a good performance for activation The battery showed a good characteristics such as a high charge efficiency of 98% at 1 C charge current, a low level internal pressure of 4 atm on a continuous over-charging and a large preservation capacity of 95% at 400 cycle.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.29-40
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• 1993

Intensive studies on the electrochemical characteristics of TiFe type alloy electrodes have been carried out to clarify the mechanism of electrochemical hydrogen absorption and desorption. It was found that electrochemical activation of the TiFe type alloys is difficult and that charge efficiencies are very low even after a decade of activation cycles. However, by the pretreatment of the powders such as gas activation and/or Ni chemical plating, charge efficiencies fairly increased, especially for the $TiFe_{0.8}Ni_{0.2}$ alloy. It was considered that difficulties to activation and lower charge efficies of the alloys are due to the presence of the passivation films, which prohibit inward diffusion of hydrogen and promote the combination of adsorbed hydrogen atom to gas bubbles during the electrochemical charge. In addition, lower diffusivity of hydrogen in the alloys may be played an important role lowering the charge efficiencies.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.429-436
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• 2012

Mg and Mg-based alloys are regarded as strong candidate hydrogen storage materials since their hydrogen capacity exceeds that of known metal hydrides. One of the approaches to improve kinetic is addition of metal oxide. In this paper, we tried to improve the hydrogenation properties of Mg-based hydrogen storage composites. The effect of transition metal oxides, such as $Nb_2O_5$ on the kinetics of the Magnesium hydrogen absorption kinetics was investigated. $MgH_x$-5wt.% $Nb_2O_5$ composites have been synthesized by hydrogen induced mechanical alloying. The powder fabricated was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (Fe-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), BET and simultaneous Thermo Gravimetric Analysis / Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TG/DSC) analysis. The Absorption / desorption kinetics of $MgH_x$-5wt.% $Nb_2O_5$ (type I and II) are determined at 423, 473, 523, 573 and 623 K.