Hydrogen Storage Alloys
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2013) | Viewed by 30511
Special Issue Editor
Interests: energy-materials; hydrogen storage and metal matrix composites (MMCs)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Storing hydrogen safely and efficiently is a key to realising a clean energy cycle free of carbon emission. Owing to the high volume density of hydrogen atoms in metal-hydrides which often exceeds the atomic density of liquid hydrogen, metal-hydride forming alloy systems have attracted much attention from the viewpoint of volume-efficient hydrogen storage. Among the hydrogen storage alloys developed to date, LaNi5 is perhaps the most commercially successful alloy and its derivatives have been used as the negative electrode in metal-nickel hydride rechargeable batteries. Although LaNi5 is an excellent electrode material with proven safety and long operational cycle life, the gravimetric capacity of hydrogen in LaNi5 is limited to approximately 1.4 wt%. This gravimetric capacity is way below the target set by the US Department of Energy for the onboard hydrogen storage system and thus, great efforts have been devoted to search for novel alloy systems with high gravimetric storage capacity. As a result, some new alloys based on Li, Mg and Ti have been reported since the late 1990s and the gravimetric storage capacity has been enhanced significantly. These alloys are generally intermetallic compounds that include, but not limited to AB, AB2, AB3 and A2B7, where A represents metallic elements with strong affinity for hydrogen, and B is metallic elements which regulate and catalytize the hydrogen absorption. Hydrogen storage alloys are able to store the hydrogen in solid solution or hydride phase, depending on the nature and position of the elements in the intermetallic compounds. There has been also a growing awareness of the beneficial effects of nanoscale structural refinement on the absorption and desorption kinetics in hydrogen storage alloys. The aim of this special issue is to overview the current status of alloy development in hydrogen storage alloys and to discuss the fundamental understanding of the effects of alloying elements, the crystal structures and the microstructural refinement on the hydrogen storage characteristics.
Dr. Sammy Lap Ip Chan
Prof. Dr. Kiyonori Suzuki
Guest Editors
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