Reduction of three industrial nickel oxides (Goro, Tokyo and Sinter 75) with a hydrogen bearing gas was revisited in the temperature interval from 523 to 673 K (250 to 400°C). A pronounced incubation period is observed in the temperature interval tested. This period decreases as the reduction temperature increases. Thermogravimetric data of these oxides were fitted using the Avrami-Erofeyev kinetic model. The reduction of these oxides is controlled by a nucleation and growth mechanism of metallic nickel over the oxides structure. Rate kinetic constants were re-evaluated and the activation energy for the reduction of these oxides was re-calculated.

In this study, Bi-doped SnSe was fabricated through the high energy ball milling and the hydrogen reduction of Bi2O3, and its thermoelectric properties were analyzed. The specimen with pure-Bi was fabricated as a control group and properties were compared. In the case of specimens with added Bi2O3, when sintering was performed in a hydrogen atmosphere, Bi2O3 with a high melting point was reduced to Bi with a relatively low melting point. At this time, because of the appearance of the liquid phase, the orientation of the (400) plane increased, and the density was improved. As a result, the change of SnSe to n-type was confirmed in the temperature range of 300 K - 773 K due to Bi doping. Additionally, when Bi2O3 was used instead of pure-Bi, the thermal conductivity, which is inversely proportional to the figure of merit, decreased, and the electrical conductivity increased, resulting in an improvement in the figure of merit.

The characteristics and hydrogen reduction behavior of W-0.8 wt% Ni-0.4 wt% Cu powder synthesized from WO₃-NiOCuO composite powder have been investigated. The metal oxide powder mixtures were prepared using a ball milling process. XRD analysis and HR-TEM revealed that the oxide powders are changed to W and CuNi alloy powders with an average particle size of about 100 nm by hydrogen reduction. To understand the reduction behavior of oxide powders, TG analysis was performed, and the reduction kinetics was evaluated by the amount of peak shift with heating rates. The activation energies for the reduction of WO₃-NiO-CuO, estimated by the slope of the Kissinger plot, were measured as 60.6-114.4 kJ/mol depending on reduction steps.