Hydrogen storage and low-temperature electrochemical performances of A2B7 type La-Mg-Ni-Co-Al-Mo alloys

The effect of Mo-addition on hydrogen storage and low-temperature electrochemical performances of La-Mg-Ni-Co-Al alloys is investigated. The alloys were synthetized via vacuum induction melting followed by annealing treatment at 1123 K for 8 h. The major phases in the annealed alloys are consisted of (La, Mg)2Ni7, (La, Mg)5Ni19 and LaNi5 phases. Mo-addition facilitates phase transformation of LaNi5 into (La, Mg)2Ni7 and (La, Mg)5Ni19 phases. Hydrogen absorption/desorption PCI curves indicates that the hydrogen storage capacity of the alloy increases remarkably with the addition of Mo. Furthermore, the La0.75Mg0.25Ni3.05Co0.2Al0.05Mo0.2 alloy shows excellent hydriding/dehydriding kinetics with a higher capacity, requiring only 100 s to reach its saturated hydrogen capacity of 1.58 wt% at low temperature of 303 K, and releasing 1.57 wt% hydrogen within 400 s at 338 K. Electrochemical experiments manifest that the Mo-added alloy electrode has perfect activation properties and the maximum discharge capacity. The low-temperature dischargeability shows that the La0.75Mg0.25Ni3.05Co0.2Al0.05Mo0.2 alloy exhibits the excellent low-temperature discharge performance, and the maximum discharge capacity is improved from 231.0 to 334.6 mAh/g at 253 K. The HRD property of the alloy electrode is enhanced, suggesting that Mo enhances the kinetic ability at low-temperature.