The development of hydrogen storage alloys and the progress of nickel hydride batteries

In this paper, we discuss the fundamentals of a hydrogen storage alloy used as the active material in a hydride electrode and the operation principle of a rechargeable nickel hydride (NiMH) battery. We also describe briefly a semi-empirical electrochemical-thermodynamic approach to develop/screen a hydrogen storage alloy for electrochemical application. Finally, the current state of the NiMH batteries including commercial manufacture process, cell performance and applications is given. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.