THE PARTICLE-SIZE EFFECT OF METAL-HYDRIDES ON THE DISCHARGE CAPACITY OF A NICKEL-HYDROGEN BATTERY

To improve the performances of the negative electrodes for the nickel hydrogen battery, the particle size effect of the hydrogen storage alloy powder on the discharge capacity of the battery was studied. It was found that there is an optimum particle size ratio and mixing ratio between the larger and the smaller particle sizes that enhances the discharge capacity. When the particle size ratio is 0.11(the ratio of the average particle size of small component to that of the large one), which is the smallest value in our experimental study and the large particle size fraction is 70 wt%, the largest capacity was obtained.