Metal hydride batteries research using nanostructured additives

We describe here, our recent research efforts to improve the capacity of metal hydride batteries using nanostructured additives. Nanostructured additives of palladium, copper and nickel were incorporated separately into the negative electrode of the metal hydride batteries. The nanomaterials were synthesized by template-based methods and characterized by scanning electron microscopy. These nanomaterials were incorporated in the negative electrode of the metal hydride battery and the electrochemical performance at 2 C rate was studied. The nanomaterial-incorporated negative electrodes all showed increased cell voltage and negative electrode potential compared to that of a pristine cell. The increase in discharge capacity for a cut-off voltage of 1 V depends on the nanomaterial incorporated and a comparative analysis of the performance of the different batteries is presented.