Effect of Carbon Support on the Kinetic Behaviour of a Metal Hydride Electrode

J. E. THOMAS; G. ANDREASEN; A. ARENILLAS; L. ZUBIZARRETA; P. BARATH; M. SEDLAØÍKOVÁ; J. VONDRAK; A, VISINTIN

Foz de Iguaçú, Brasil

Congreso; ISE 2008 Spring Meeting; 2008

ISE

Metal hydride alloys are widely used as negative electrodes in rechargeable batteries. The performance of these electrodes is affected by numerous factors such as the kinetics of the processes taking place at the metal–electrolyte interface and the hydrogen diffusion within the bulk of the metal alloy particles. In this paper, we studied the possibility to improve the electrochemical behaviour of AB5 alloy commercial electrodes using different carbons as support, such as carbon blacks and a selection of commercial and in-lab synthesised carbon nanotubes. The carbons selected for this work present different morphologies (i.e., spherical and tubular). Furthermore, they also present a variation of the porous structure and subsequent surface area, which also are going to influence in their further electrochemical behaviour.