In order to investigate the influences of the stoichiometric ratio of La/Mg (increasing La and decreasing Mg on the same mole ratio) on the structure and electrochemical performances of the La-Mg-Ni-based A2B7-type electrode alloy, the as-cast and the annealed ternary Lao.8+xMgo.2_xNi3.5 (x=0-0.05) electrode alloys were prepared. The characterization of electrode alloys by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that all the as-cast and the annealed alloys hold two major phases of (La,Mg)2Ni7 and LaNi5 as well as a residual phase of LaNi3. Moreover, the increase of La/Mg ratio brings on a decline of (La,Mg)2Ni7 phase and a rise of LaNi5 and LaNi3 phases. The variation of La/Mg ratio gives rise to an evident change of the electrochemical performances of the alloys. The discharge capacities of the as-cast and the annealed alloys evidently decrease with growing the La/Mg ratio, while the cycle stabilities of the alloys visibly augment under the same condition. Furthermore, the high rate discharge ability (HRD), the electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS), the Tafel polarization curves, and the potential step measurements all indicate that the electrochemical kinetic properties of the alloy electrodes increase with the La/Mg ratio rising.
The nanocrystalline and amorphous Mg2Ni-type alloys with a chemical composition of (Mg24Ni10Cu2)100-xNdx (x=0, 5, 10, 15, 20) were fabricated by melt spinning technology. The effects of spinning rate on the structure and electrochemical hydrogen storage performance of the alloys were investigated. The as-spun Nd-free alloy displays an entire nanocrystalline structure, whereas the as-spun Nd-added alloys hold a nanocrystalline and amorphous structure, suggesting that the addition of Nd facilitates the glass forming of the Mg2Ni-type alloys. Increasing the spinning rate from 0 to 40 m/s gives rise to the discharge capacity growing from 42.5 to 100.6 mA·h/g for the x=0 alloy and from 86.4 to 452.8 mA·h/g for the x=10 alloy. And the cycle stability (S20) rises from 40.2%to 41.1%for the x=0 alloy and from 53.2%to 89.7%for the x=10 alloy, respectively.