Hydrogen storage material
AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsTakaharu Gamo, Yoshio Moriwaki, Toshio Yamashita, Masataro Fukuda
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Abstract
An economical metallic material for storage of hydrogen constituted by an intermetallic compound which exists as a Laves phase, has a hexagonal crystal structure of the MgZn.sub.2 type, (C14 type) and in which the crystal lattice parameters a and c are in the ranges a=4.80.about.5.10 (A) and c=7.88.about.8.28 (A). The material of the invention permits absorption of large amounts of hydrogen and efficient desorption thereof under close to normal temperature and pressure conditions, and for reduced cost of material preferably includes as principal components manganese and at least titanium or zirconium.
Claims24
The hydride of a binary alloy, which alloy is a substantially Laves phase intermetallic compound having a hexagonal MgZn.sub.2 (C14) type crystal structure with crystal structure parameters a and c which have values in the range:
- a=4.80.about.5.10 angstroms,
- c=7.88.about.8.28 angstroms.
A method for the storage of hydrogen which comprises contacting an alloy which is a substantially Laves phase intermetallic compound having a hexagonal MgZn.sub.2 (C14) type crystal structure with crystal structure parameters a and c which have values in the range:
- a=4.80.about.5.10 angstroms,
- c=7.88.about.8.28 angstroms,
- with hydrogen, to thereby form the hydride of said alloy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.