In order to improve the hydriding and dehydriding kinetics of the Mg2Ni-type alloys, Ni in the alloy was partially substituted by element Cu, and the nanocrystalline Mg2Ni-type Mg20Ni10-xCux (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) alloys were synthesized by melt-spinning technique The structures of the as-cast and spun alloys were studied by XRD, SEM and HRTEM The hydrogen absorption and desorption kinetics of the alloys were measured using an automatically controlled Sieverts apparatus The results show that the substitution of Cu for Ni does not change the major phase Mg2Ni The hydrogen absorption capacity of the alloys first increases and then decreases with rising Cu content, but the hydrogen desorption capacity of the alloys grows with increasing Cu content The melt spinning significantly improves the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation capacity and kinetics of the alloys (C) 2009 Professor T Nejat Veziroglu Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved