Hydrogen storage properties of TiMn1.5V0.2-based alloys for application to fuel cell system

Abstract

To meet the requirements of fuel cell power system for electric bike, the influence of partial substitution of Zr and Cr on hydrogen storage performance of TiMn1.5V0.2-based alloys is investigated first, and a hydrogen storage tank is then built using the developed TiMn1.5V 0.2-based alloy as metal hydride bed and its hydrogen supply ability is further evaluated. It is found that for TiMn1.5V 0.2-based alloys, the Zr substitution for Ti effectively reduces the plateau pressure but increases the plateau slope, while the partial substitution of Mn by Cr decreases the absorption plateau pressure, leading to a smaller hysteresis factor. After the optimization of components, 6 kg of Ti 0.95Zr0.05Mn1.4Cr0.1V0.2 alloy powder with 5 wt.% aluminum foam is mixed uniformly to form a metal hydride bed inside the tank. The measurements show that the tank releases up to 82 g of hydrogen to produce a 200 W fuel cell output for 300 min and has a stable cyclic capacity, indicating that hydrogen storage system of TiMn 1.5V0.2-based alloys for fuel cell power system of electric bike is applicable. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.