The effects of surface coating with polyaniline on electrochemical properties of La0.8Mg0.2Ni3.4Al0.1 electrode alloys were studied in this paper. The flake-shaped polyaniline coatings were deposited on the surface of La0.8Mg0.2Ni3.4Al0.1 alloy powders by electrodeless deposition. Electrochemical studies showed that the discharge capacity increased to 391.8 mAh g(-1) after surface modification with polyaniline, compared to 382.5 mAh g(-1) for the bare alloys. The cyclic stability over 100 cycles improved from 81.6% to 87.5%. Also, the kinetic properties were investigated in detail. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.