The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 19, 2019
Filed:
Feb. 17, 2016
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Nicholas J. Weadock, Pasadena, CA (US);
Hongjin Tan, Pasadena, CA (US);
Brent T. Fultz, Pasadena, CA (US);
Heng Yang, Pasadena, CA (US);
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods of preparing improved metal hydride alloy materials are provided. The alloys include a mixture of at least four of vanadium, titanium, nickel, chromium, and iron. The alloy is processed by at least one of thermal and physical treatment to generate a refined microstructure exhibiting improved kinetics when used as electrodes in MH batteries (e.g., higher discharge current). The thermal treatment includes rapid cooling of the alloy at greater than 10K/s. The physical treatment includes mechanical pulverization of the alloy after cooling. The microstructure is a single phase (body centered cubic) with a heterogeneous composition including a plurality of primary regions having a lattice parameter selected from the range of 3.02 Å to 3.22 Å and a plurality of secondary regions having a lattice parameter selected from the range of 3.00 Å to 3.22 Å and at least one physical dimension having a maximum average value less than 1 μm.