Influences of heat treatment on electrochemical characteristics of La_(0.75)Mg_(0.25)Ni_(2.8)Co_(0.5) hydrogen storage electrode alloy

The influences of annealing treatment on the electrochemical and structural properties of La 0.75Mg 0.25- Ni 2.8Co 0.5 hydrogen storage alloy were investigated by means of electrochemical studies and X-ray diffraction(XRD) analyses. The XRD results reveal that the peak width gets narrower with increasing annealing temperature, which can be ascribed to the structural change and more homogeneous composition after being annealed. Electrochemical studies show that the discharge capacity and the cycle stability of the alloy electrodes increase after being annealed. The maximum discharge capacity, exchange current density J 0 and limiting current density J L of the as-cast alloy are 388 mA·h/g, 340.5 mA/g and 3 068 mA/g, respectively, and they are increased to 400 mA·h/g, 372.1 mA/g and 3 399 mA/g for the alloy annealed at 1 123 K for 8 h, respectively. Meanwhile, as the discharge current density is 1 250 mA/g, the high rate dischargeability(HRD) increases from 77.4% for the as-cast alloy to 83.3% for the alloy annealed at 1 123 K.