Substitution of titanium for zirconium in Zr1-xTixV1.2Cr0.3Ni1.5 (x=0.25; 0.4; 0.6) results in the C15 cubic phase as the main component, the lattice parameter decreasing with increasing Ti content. The desorption isotherms show sloping plateaux and the dehydriding enthalpy decreases with the increasing x. The discharge capacity of the hydride electrode shows remarkable constancy up to 200 cycles for Zr0.4Ti0.6V1.2Cr0.3Ni1.5 (238 mAh g−1).

The ball milling of a mixture of Laves phase and LaNi5 type alloys results in a Laves phase type structures with XRD pattern characteristic to nanostruntured materials. The transformation leads also to changes in the hydrogen desorption isotherms and improves the discharge capacity of the hydride electrode.

The catalytic activity of supported Ni/Ln2O3 (Ln=La, Ce, Gd, Ho, Yb) catalysts for the hydrogen/water isotopic exchange reaction has been studied. The metallic and total surface areas were measured by hydrogen and krypton adsorption, respectively. The Ni surface area evaluated by hydrogen chemisorption is higher than the total BET surface area for Ni/La2O3. The Ni surface area does not change significantly while the total surface area increases with