A composite catalyst Fe@C was successfully prepared by chemical blowing and carbonization method, at the same time its defect level, pore distribution and specific surface area were investigated. In addition, the Mg-Ce-Y + x wt.% Fe@C (x = 1, 3, 6, 10) composites also were synthesized by mechanical ball-milling. The effect of the Fe@C content on hydrogen absorption and desorption property of the Mg-Ce-Y alloy was characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, PCI, and DSC method. The activated composites exhibit an excellent absorption and desorption kinetic performance, which attributeed to the efficient catalysis of Fe@C composite catalyst. The Mg-Ce-Y + 6 wt % Fe@C composite exhibits the fastest hydrogen absorption/desorption kinetics and relatively lower decomposition temperature and it can absorb 90% of the maximum hydrogen capacity within 2 min and only takes 12 min to release the same amount of hydrogen under 300 degrees C. Besides, the dehydrogenation activation energy is reduced to 84.9 kJ/mol and the initial hydrogen release temperature is less than 250 degrees C, which is owing to the outstanding synergistic catalyst effect of Fe@C on Mg-based hydrogen storage alloy. However, the thermodynamic properties of the composites have not been improved, of which the enthalpy change is 80.6 kJ/mol. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.