LONG-LIFE, RECHARGEABLE NICKEL-ZINC BATTERY

摘要

There is presently interest in commercial type nickel-zinc batteries for use as power sources for short-range urban transit vehicles. One very formidable difficulty with the nickel-zinc system is the deterioration of the cellulose separator currently in use resulting in limited life for the system. In the 1960's flexible inorganic separators were developed for use in AgZn cells that have been reported to possess the required properties of physi¬cal strength, microstructure, and chemical stability that the nickel-zinc system so des¬perately requires. In this study a production version of the flexible inorganic separator was evaluated to determine whether it offers a means for improving the life of the nickel-zinc system.nMultiplate nickel-zinc cells of 7-10 AL capacities of different electrode separator con¬figurations were constructed and tested. The nickel-zinc cells employing the inorganic separator encasing the zinc electrode, the nickel electrode, or both electrodes had shorter lives than state-of-the-art cells using Visking and cellophane separation.