Improved poisoning resistance of Cu-coated LaNiAl alloy prepared by magnetron-sputtering method

To enhance the poisoning resistance of LaNiAl, high-purity Cu-coated LaNiAl was prepared using magnetron sputtering. SEM, EDS, and TEM were employed to examine the Cu-coated LaNiAl. The results show that copper is deposited on the surface of LaNiAl in the form of nanodots. With the increase of sputtering power, the particle size of nanoparticles decreases and the coverage increases. Kinetic curves of hydrogen absorption were generated for both bare and Cu-coated LaNiAl under different impurity gases. Cu-coated LaNiAl shows better hydrogen absorption performance. Copper nanodots deposited by magnetron sputtering can improve the poisoning resistance of hydrogen storage alloys. Using XPS, surface states of samples were initially examined both before and after CO poisoning. The analysis shows that the copper oxide/metal interfaces improved resistance to CO-containing impurity gases through catalytic oxidation of CO.