A study on the electrochemical properties of an Mg-Ni based thin film electrode for a microbattery

In order to investigate the possibility of a microbattery using an Mg2Ni type alloy, we have studied the electrochemical properties of the Mg1-xNix (x = 0.33, 0.15, 0.10) thin film electrode. The thin films were prepared by DC magnetron co-sputtering using Mg and Ni targets and had an amorphous structure. The discharge capacities of the Mg1-xNix (x = 0.33, 0.15, 0.10) films increased as the Mg content increased, that of the Mg0.9Ni0.1 electrode increased with repeated charge-discharge cycles reached the maximum value, 228 mAh/g, after 10 cycles. The surface morphology of the film was changed to a needle-type porous structure by cycling.