EVAULATION OF HYDRIDING PARAMETERS IN MG ─ NI-BASED ALLOYS DOPED WITH TRANSITION METALS

There is a general hydrogen conception to overcome unstable production of electric energy from renewable resources, such as wind-power or solar-power plant. This conception consists in generation of hydrogen by using water electrolysis and its storing. However, there is a problem, how to store huge amount of hydrogen in a small volume. In this work, we performed water electrolysis to store nascent hydrogen in the form of magnesium alloys. Magnesium was alloyed by nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt and rare earths to improve kinetics of hydrogen absorption. Ingots of Mg-based alloys were prepared by vacuum induction melting. These were cut into thin coupons and electrochemically hydrided in KOH solution at 80 °C for 480 min. The structures and phase compositions of both as cast and hydrided alloys were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy and by X-ray diffraction. Hydriding parameters for investigated alloys were measured by glow discharge spectrometer. The influence of doping transition metals on the ability of Mg-Ni-based alloys to absorb hydrogen was evaluated.