Ni-MH batteries of new industrial application- Standardization Status of IEC Standards

-大山秀明

The nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) cells and batteries are used wide range usage for industrial application as following some examples,

• Stationary applications: telecom, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), electrical energy storage system, utility switching, emergency power and similar applications.

• Motive applications: fork-lift truck, golf cart, AGV, railway, and marine, excluding road vehicles.

Ni-MH batteries for industrial applications are especially expected to be widely used because of the rising demand for environmental protection and safety.

In this presentation, the examples of new industrial applications and the international standards of Ni-MH batteries are shown in details.

Hydrides as Energy Storage Materials-李海文

Hydrides are a fast growing family of materials, approaching multi-functionality, in particular within energy storage. They can store hydrogen in the solid state, acts as novel battery materials, both as electrolytes and electrode materials, or store solar heat in a more efficient manner as compared to traditional heat storage materials. Metal boranes M(B_xH_y)_n, a typical example of hydrides, have been attracting increasing interest from the energy storage point of view, especially in the context of solid-state hydrogen storage and superionic conductivity. Lower boranes such as metal tetrahydroborate M(BH₄)_nlike LiBH₄, Mg(BH₄)₂and Ca(BH₄)₂, with hydrogen gravimetric density higher than 10 mass%, have been extensively investigated for high density hydrogen storage. However, formation of the intermediate compounds comprised of higher boranes such as M₂(B₁₂H₁₂)_nduring the dehydrogenation of M(BH₄)_n, has been widely regarded as one of the main reasons resulting in the degraded rehydrogenation. M₂(B₁₂H₁₂)_nwith a stable icosahedral cage structure, on the other hand, favors its potential application as superionic conductor. Recently, we found that the ionic conductivity of a bimetallic closo-borane LiNaB₁₂H₁₂reaches 0.79 S/cm at 550 K above its order-disorder phase transition. This value is 10 times higher than those of its single counterpart of Li₂B₁₂H₁₂and Na₂B₁₂H₁₂at the same temperature. In the presentation, we will give an overview of the state-of-the-art research progress on hydrides for energy storage, followed by the introduction of current Japan's Strategic Energy Plan.