Hydrogenation study of nanostructured Ti-Zr-Ni alloys

- Zr in Ti-Zr-Ni caused obtaining of material with higher hydrogen storage capacity.
- 2.15 wt.% was a hydrogen storage capacity of Ti1.5Zr0.5Ni alloy.
- Zr addition caused faster hydrogen sorption kinetic.

Ti-Zr-Ni alloys are potential candidates for hydrogen storage materials. In this study mechanical alloying and heat treatment under an argon atmosphere at 750 °C for 0.5 h were used to produce Ti2−xZrxNi nanocrystalline alloys (x = 0.25, 0.5). Shaker type ball mill was used. An objective of the present study was to investigate an influence of amount of Zr in alloy on hydrogenation and dehydrogenation properties of Ti-Zr-Ni alloys. X-ray diffraction analyses revealed formation of Ti2Ni main phase and C14 Laves secondary phase after heat treatment process. Synthesized materials were studied by a conventional Sievert's type apparatus at 30, 100 and 200 °C. Hydrogenation properties of Ti-Zr-Ni were compared with those of binary Ti2Ni compound. It was observed that greater content of Zr caused obtaining material with higher hydrogen storage capacity. Ti1.5Zr0.5Ni alloy showed high hydrogen storage capacity at room temperature, which reached about 2.17 wt.%. Moreover, alloy with greater amount of Zr was characterized by faster hydrogen sorption kinetic. Obtained properties resulted from structure, microstructure and morphology of materials.