Structural, morphological, magnetic and hydrogen absorption properties of LaNi5 alloy: A comprehensive study

A comprehensive study of structural, morphological, magnetic and hydrogen absorption properties of LaNi5-H system was investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that as-synthesized LaNi5 alloy is single phase with CaCu5-type structure while some weak peaks of elemental nickel also appeared after several hydrogenation/dehydrogenation (H/D) cycling. The presence of pure Ni was also followed using the room temperature magnetic measurements. After H/D cycling, the particle size decreases and particle size distribution was found nearly uniform compared to noncycled alloy. The pressure-composition isotherms (PCIs) of the hydrogen absorption reaction were determined in the temperature range 20-80 degrees C using a homemade Sievert's type experimental apparatus, and then the enthalpy and entropy of hydride formation were calculated. The hydriding kinetic mechanism of LaNi5 was evaluated using the different fitting models: Jander diffusion model (JDM), Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) and Chou models. All employed models confirm an increase in the hydriding reaction rate with temperature. However, the calculated results using JMA model show a better agreement with the experimental data and hence we believe that diffusion along with nucleation and growth is the rate-controlling step for the hydriding reaction. The values of activation energy for hydriding reaction were also obtained by JD and JMA models.