Charge and Discharge Characteristics of Microencapsulated Hydrogen Storage Alloy Electrodes for Secondary Batteries

마이크로캡슐화한 축전지용 수소저장합금 전극의 충·방전 특성

An applicability microencapsulation, using electroless copper plating, of hydrogen storage alloy powder as an anode material for nickel-hydrogen secondary batteries was investigated. Alloys employed were $LaNi_{4.7}Al_{0.3}$ and $MmNi_{4.5}Al_{0.5}$(Mm=mischmetal) which have an appropriate equilibrium pressure and capacity. The microencapsulation of the alloy powder was found to accelerate initial activation of electrodes and to increase capacity which is about 285mAh/g for $LaNi_{4.7}Al_{0.3}$. In addition, other charge and discharge characteristics, such as polarization and flatness of charge and discharge potential, were improved due to the role of copper layer as a microcurrent collector and an oxidation barrier of the alloy powder. $MmNi_{4.5}Al_{0.5}$ alloy showed lower capacity than $LaNi_{4.7}Al_{0.3}$ because of higher equilibrium pressure. Cyclic characteristics of both alloys were somewhat poor because of mainly shedding and partial oxidation of alloy powder during the cycling. However, it was considered that the microencapsulation method is effective to improve the performances of the hydrogen storage alloy electrodes.