Structural parameters of Pr3MgNi14 during hydrogen absorption-desorption process

Inorg Chem. 2012 Nov 5;51(21):11805-10. doi: 10.1021/ic301743p. Epub 2012 Oct 17.

Abstract

Structural parameters of Pr(3)MgNi(14) after a cyclic hydrogen absorption-desorption process were investigated by X-ray diffraction. Pr(3)MgNi(14) consisted of two phases: 80% Gd(2)Co(7)-type structure and 20% PuNi(3)-type structure. The pressure-composition (P-C) isotherm of Pr(3)MgNi(14) indicates a maximum hydrogen capacity of 1.12 H/M (1.61 mass %) at 298 K. The cyclic property of Pr(3)MgNi(14) up to 1000 cycles was measured at 313 K. The retention rate of the sample was 87.5% at 1000 cycles, which compares favorably with that of LaNi(5). After 1000 cycles, the expansions of lattice parameters a and c and the lengths along the c-axes of the PrNi(5) and PrMgNi(4) cells of the Gd(2)Co(7)-type structures were 0.20%, 1.26%, 0.47%, and 3.68%, respectively. The metal sublattice expanded anisotropically after the cyclic test. The isotropic and anisotropic lattice strains can be refined by Rietveld analysis. The anisotropic and isotropic lattice strains were almost saturated at the first activation process and reached values of 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively, after 1000 cycles. These values are smaller by 1 order of magnitude than those of LaNi(5).