Hydrogen storage properties for Mg–Zn–Y quasicrystal and ternary alloys

•Quasicrystal (QC) and H-phase alloys were detected in the Zn–Mg–Y samples.•Hydrogen storage properties of Zn–Mg–Y samples were investigated.•Zn50Mg42Y8 showed a capacity of 0.9 wt.% and decomposition temperature of 445 °C.

Three Zn–Mg–Y alloys with nominal compositions of Zn50Mg42Y8 and Zn60Mg30Y10 were prepared by induction melting or gas atomisation. XRD and SEM analysis shows samples ZMY-1 and ZMY-2 consisted of multiple phases including icosahedral quasicrystal (QC) i-phase, hexagonal H-phase and Mg7Zn3, whilst ZMY-3 contained QC only. The hydrogen storage properties of the Zn–Mg–Y quasicrystal and ternary alloys were investigated for the first time. The quasicrystal sample ZMY-3 hydrogenated at 300 °C had 0.3 wt.% capacity and the DSC decomposition peak temperature was 503 °C. Amongst the three samples, the highest hydrogen storage capacity (0.9 wt.%) and the lowest decomposition peak temperature (445 °C) was achieved by sample ZMY-1. The pressure–composition–isotherm (PCI) curve of ZMY-1 sample showed a flat plateau gave a plateau pressure of 3.5 bar at 300 °C, which indicates a lower dehydrogenation enthalpy than MgH2.