Patent ID: 7892678

Claim:
A hydrogen absorbing alloy powder, comprising: an intermetallic compound having an AB 5 type crystal structure and containing La for an A site element and Ni for a B site element; and metallic Ni liberated from the intermetallic compound, wherein: the powder contains La by 20 wt % or more and metallic Ni by 2.0 wt % to 10 wt %, the powder has an exterior surface, acicular or grain shape precipitates containing La(OH) 3 are deposited on the exterior surface of the powder, and the powder has an intensity ratio P 2 /P 1 satisfying a relation: P 2 /P 1 ≧0.02, where P 1 is a peak intensity appearing in the vicinity of: diffraction angle 2θ=42.5 deg and showing (111) face of LaNi 5 and P 2 is a peak intensity appearing in the vicinity of: diffraction angle 2θ=15.8 deg and showing (100) face of La(OH) 3 in an X-ray diffractometry using CuKα rays.