Laves type intermetallic compounds as hydrogen storage materials: A review

Laves type AB(2) intermetallics belong to the most abundant group of intermetallic compounds containing over 1000 compounds. A large variety of the chemical nature of A (Mg, Ca, Ti, Zr, Rare Earth Metals) and B (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Al) metals together with the existence of the extended solid solutions formed by mixing various selected components on both A and B sites dramatically extends the list the known binary and ternary individual compounds. A vast majority of the Laves type intermetallics crystallises with C15 / FCC MgCu2 and C14 / hexagonal MgZn2 types of structures, both formed for a large range of ratios between the atomic radii of the A and B components outside the ideal ratio r(A)/r(B)= 1.225. Their hydrogenation per-formance is defined by the chemical composition and structure of the alloys and proceeds according to the following alternative / parallel mechanisms: (a) Formation of the insertion type interstitial hydrides con-taining up to 6-7 at. H/f.u.AB(2); (b) Amorphisation of the alloys on hydrogenation; (c) Disproportionation with the formation of a binary hydride of the A metal and depleted by A metal B-components based alloys/ hydrides. Equilibrium pressures of hydrogen desorption from the AB(2)-type hydrides span a huge range of ten orders of magnitude and thus Laves type-based intermetallics satisfy the requirements for various applications including getters of hydrogen gas, volume-and mass-efficient hydrogen storage materials operating at ambient conditions, materials for the efficient thermally driven compression of hydrogen gas with an output pressure of several hundred bar and high capacity and high rate anode materials for the metal hydride batteries operating in a challenging temperature range -at subzero temperatures and also above 60 degrees C. The paper contains references to 245 publications and will guide the future work in the areas of fundamental research and also in advancing the applications of the hydrides of the Laves type inter-metallics. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

Laves-type intermetallics are a diverse group of compounds that can be used in various applications, including hydrogen gas getters, hydrogen storage materials, hydrogen compression, and metal hydride battery anode materials.