The electrochemical characteristics of AB_(4)-type rare earth-Mg-Ni-based superlattice structure hydrogen storage alloys for nickel metal hydride battery

Rare earth-Mg-Ni-based alloys with superlattice structures are new generation negative electrode materials for the nickel metal hydride batteries.Among them,the novel AB_(4)-type superlattice structure alloy is supposed to have superior cycling stability and rate capability.Yet its preparation is hindered by the crucial requirement of temperature and the special composition which is close to the other superlattice structure.Here,we prepare rare earth-Mg-Ni-based alloy and study the phase transformation of alloys to make clear the formation of AB_(4)-type phase.It is found Pr_(5)Co_(19)-type phase is converted from Ce_(5)Co_(19)-type phase and shows good stability at higher temperature compared to the Ce_(5)Co_(19)-type phase in the range of 930-970℃.Afterwards,with further 5℃increasing,AB_(4)-type superlattice structure forms at a temperature of 975℃by consuming Pr_(5)Co_(19)-type phase.In contrast with A_(5)B_(19)-type alloy,AB_(4)-type alloy has superior rate capability owing to the dominant advantages of charge transfer and hydrogen diffusion.Besides,AB_(4)-type alloy shows long lifespan whose capacity retention rates are 89.2%at the 100;cycle and 82.8%at the 200;cycle,respectively.AB_(4)-type alloy delivers 1.53 wt.%hydrogen storage capacity at room temperature and exhibits higher plateau pressure than Pr_(5)Co_(19)-type alloy.The work provides novel AB_(4)-type alloy with preferable electrochemical performance as negative electrode material to inspire the development of nickel metal hydride batteries.

High-performance nickel metal hydride battery anode with enhanced durability and excellent low-temperature discharge capability

Current AB_(5)-type hydrogen storage alloys employed in nickel-metal hydride(NiMH)batteries exhibit exceptional low-temperature discharge performance but suffer from limited cycle life and insufficient high-temperature stability.To overcome these challenges,we introduce a hydrothermal synthesized LaF_(3)coating layer on the surface of the AB_(5)anode material.This LaF_(3)coating layer adds a protective barrier for the active material,significantly improving the battery's cycle life and high-temperature stability.Our findings indicate that(1)the LaF_(3)coated anode demonstrates an extended cycle life with increased specific capacity and a capacity retention of 88%after 40 cycles of abusive overcharging and rapid discharging at room temperature.(2)The synthesized anode exhibits a 97%recovery of its specific capacity of 292.7 mAh/g following 144 h of high-temperature storage.(3)The low-temperature discharge capacity of the synthesized anode remains on par with the pristine AB_(5)alloy at 230.4 mAh/g in a-40℃environment.This research presents a significant advancement in hydrogen storage alloy coatings and offers valuable insights for designing electrodes in NiMH batteries.

Preparation and Electrochemical Performances of Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries with High Specific Volume Capacity

Cylindrical nickel metal hydride （Ni-MH） battery with high specific volume capacity was prepared by using the oxyhydroxide Ni（OH）2 and AB5 type hydrogen storage alloy and adjusting the designing parameters of positive and negative electrodes. The oxyhydroxide Ni（OH）2 was synthesized by oxidizing spherical β-Ni（OH）2 with chemical method. The X-ray diffraction （XRD） patterns and the Fourier transform infrared （PT-IR） spectra indicated that 7-NiOOH was formed on the oxyhydroxide Ni（OH）2 powders, and some H2O molecules were inserted into their crystal lattice spacing. The battery capacity could not be improved when the oxyhydroxide Ni（OH）2 sample was directly used as the positive active materials. However, based on the conductance and residual capacity of the oxyhydroxide Ni（OH）2 powders, AA size Ni-MH battery with 2560 mA.h capacity and 407 W·h·L^-1 specific volume energy at 0.2C was obtained by using the commercial spherical β-Ni（OH）2 and AB5-type hydrogen-storage alloy powders as the active materials when 10% mass amount of the oxyhydroxide Ni（OH）2 with 2.50 valence was added to the positive active materials and subsequently the battery designing parameters were adjusted as well. The as-prepared battery showed 70% initial capacity after 80 cycles at 0.5C. The possibility for adjusting the capacity ratio of positive and negative electrodes from 1 ： 1.35 to 1 ： 1.22 was demonstrated preliminarily. It is considered the as-prepared battery can meet the requirement of some special portable electrical instruments.

Effect of Overcharge on Electrochemical Performance of Sealed-Type Nickel/Metal Hydride Batteries

The effects of overcharge on electrochemical performance of AA size sealed-type nickel/metal hydride（Ni/MH） batteries and its degradation mechanism were investigated. The results indicated that the relationship between the effects of different overcharge currents on the increasing velocity of inner pressure and the degradation velocity of cycle life and discharge voltage remains in almost direct proportion. After overcharge cycles, the positive electrode materials remain the original structure, but there occur some breaks because of the irreversible expand of crystal lattice. And the negative electrode alloy particles have inconspicuous pulverization, but are covered with lots of corrosive products and its main component is rare earth hydroxide or oxide. These are all the main reasons leading to the degradation behavior of the discharge capacity and cycle life of Ni/MH batteries.

Effects of Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Electrochemical Properties of Perovskite-type Oxide LaFeO3 as Negative Electrode for Metal Hydride/Nickel（MH/Ni） Batteries

We reported the effects of annealing temperatures on microstructure and electrochemical properties of perovskite-type oxide LaFeO3 prepared by stearic acid combustion method. X-Ray diffraction（XRD） patterns show that the annealed LaFeO3 powder has orthorhombic structure. Scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and transmission electron microscopy（TEM） images show the presence of homogeneously dispersed, less aggregated, and small crystals（30--40 nm） at annealing temperatures of 500 and 600 ℃. However, as the annealing temperature was increased to 700 and 800 ℃, the crystals began to combine with each other and grew into further larger crystals（90--100 nm）. The electrochemical performance of the annealed oxides was measured at 60 ℃ using chronopotentiometry, potentiodynamic polarization, and cyclic voltammetry. As the annealing temperature increased, the discharge capacity and anti-corrosion ability of the oxide electrode first increased and then decreased, reaching the optimum values at 600 ℃, with a maximum discharge capacity of 563 mA-h/g. The better electrochemical performance of LaFeO3 annealed at 600℃ could be ascribed to their smaller and more homogeneous crysals.

Improved electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of Mg-Y thin films as a function of substrate temperature

Pd-capped Mg78Y22 thin films have been prepared by direct current magnetron co-sputtering system at different substrate temperatures and their electrochemical hydrogen storage properties have been investigated.It is found that rising substrate temperature to 60 ℃ can coarsen the surface of thin film,thus facilitating the diffusion of hydrogen atoms and then enhancing its discharge capacity to 1725 mAh·g-1.Simultaneously,the cyclic stability is effectively improved due to the increased adhesion force between film and substrate as a function of temperature.In addition,the specimen exhibits a very long and flat discharge plateau at about —0.67 V,at which nearly 60%of capacity is maintained.The property is favorable for the application in metal hydride/nickel secondary batteries.The results indicate that rising optimal substrate temperature has a beneficial effect on the electrochemical hydrogen storage of Mg-Y thin films.

Gaseous sorption and electrochemical properties of rare-earth hydrogen storage alloys and their representative applications： A review of recent progress

The improvement of hydrogen storage materials is a key issue for storage and delivery of hydrogen energy before its potential can be realized. As hydrogen storage media, rare-earth hydrogen storage materials have been systematically studied in order to improve storage capacity, kinetics, thermodynamics and electrochemical performance. In this review, we focus on recent research progress of gaseous sorption and electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of rare-earth alloys and highlight their commercial applications including hydrogen storage tanks and nickel metal hydride batteries. Furthermore, development trend and prospective of rare-earth hydrogen storage materials are discussed.

Superior electrochemical performance of La-Mg-Ni-based alloys with novel A_(2)B_(7)-A_(7)B_(23) biphase superlattice structure

Nickel metal hydride(Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries hold an important position in the new-energy vehicle market owing to their key technology advantages. Their negative electrode materials—hydrogen storage alloys(HSAs) are always on the spotlight and are the key to compete with the burgeoning Li-ion batteries. Here, for the first time we report a series of biphase supperlattice HSAs with a(La,Mg)_(2)Ni_7 matrix phase and a novel(La,Mg)_(7)Ni_(23) secondary phase. The biphase alloys show discharge capacities of402–413 m Ahg^(-1) compared with 376–397 mAhg^(-1) of the other multi-or single-phase alloys. These values are among the highest for superlattice HSAs. In addition, the alloy with 15.4 wt.%(La,Mg)_(7)Ni_(23) phase exhibits good high rate dischargeability due to the proper compromise between the amount of crystal boundaries and equilibrium plateau voltage. The cycling stability of the biphase alloys is lower than that of the single-phase alloy but is till higher than the multiphase alloy. The novel superlattice biphase alloys with superior overall electrochemical properties are expected to inspire further design and development of HSAs as advanced electrode materials for power batteries.