Enhancement of the Hydrogenation and Dehydrogenation Characteristics of Mg by Adding Small Amounts of Nickel and Titanium

We compared the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation properties of Mg-based alloys to which small amounts of transition elements (Ni and Ti), halides (TaF5 and VCl3), and complex hydrides (LiBH4 and NaAlH4) were added through grinding in a hydrogen atmosphere (reactive milling). Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti is one of the samples compared, having a composition of 97.5 wt.% Mg + 1.25 wt.% Ni and 1.25 wt.% Ti. Even though Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti did not have the highest initial hydrogenation rate, it had the largest quantities of hydrogen absorbed and released for 60 min and the highest initial dehydrogenation rate. In addition, Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti did not show the incubation period in the dehydrogenation. We thus investigated the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation properties of Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti in more detail. Activated Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti absorbed 5.91 wt.% H in 12 bar H2 and released 5.80 wt.% H in 1.0 bar H2 at 593 K for 60 min at n = 3. For 5 wt.% hydrogen absorption by Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti, 18.7 min was required at 593 K in 12 bar H2 at n = 3. Although only small amounts of Ni and Ti were added, the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation properties of Mg were greatly improved. Ni and Ti-added Mg had a higher initial dehydrogenation rate and a larger Hd (60 min) than only Ni-added Mg, suggesting that the TiH1.924 and NiTi formed in Mg-1.25Ni-1.25Ti play roles in the increases in the initial dehydrogenation rate and Hd (60 min), probably acting as active sites for the nucleation of the Mg-H solid solution phase.