A novel plating process for microencapsulating metal hydrides

One approach to increasing the lifetime of the metal hydride electrode has been the use of conventional electroless plating to produce a coating of copper or nickel on the surface of the metal hydride powders. In this paper, a novel method for microencapsulating the active electrode powders is presented. This new plating technique takes advantage of the reducing power of hydrogen already stored inside the metal hydride to plate a variety of metals onto metal hydride materials. This method greatly simplifies electroless plating for these powders, eliminating the need for stabilizers and additives typically required for conventional electroless plating solutions. Metals that can be electrolessly plated with stored hydrogen have been identified based on thermodynamic considerations. Experimentally, micrometers thick coatings of copper, silver, and nickel have been plated on several metal hydrides.