Aqueous Electrolyte Batteries

Carbonaceous materials serve several functions in electrodes and other cell components for aqueous-electrolyte batteries, and these are summarized in Table 1. 

The organization of the Handbook of Battery Materials is simple, dividing between aqueous electrolyte batteries and alkali metal batteries and further in anodes, cathodes, electrolytes and separators. There are also three more general chapters about thermodynamics and mechanistics of electrode reactions, practical batteries and the global competition of primary and secondary batteries. 

Yoshida, H., Non-aqueous electrolyte battery JP Patent 2,734,978 (Japan Storage Battery Co, Ltd ) 1995 (applied in 1994). 

Hiwara, A. Yokoyama, K. Fujita, S. Narase, Y. Omara, A., Non-aqueous electrolyte and non-aqueous electrolyte battery, JP Patent 3,821,495 (Mitsui Chemical Co. Sony Co.) 1996 (applied in 1994). 

Of practical importance is the contribution that is made by carbonaceous materials as an additive to enhance the electronic conductivity of the positive and negative electrodes. In other electrode applications, carbon serves as the electrocatalyst for electrochemical reactions and/or the substrate on which an electrocatalyst is located. In addition, carbonaceous materials are fabricated into solid structures which serve as the bipolar separator or current collector. Clearly, carbon is an important material for aqueous-electrolyte batteries. It would be very difficult to identify a practical alternative to carbon-based materials in many of their battery applications. The attractive features of carbon in electrochemical applications are its high electrical conductivity, acceptable chemical stability, and low cost. These characteristics are important for the widespread acceptance of carbon in aqueous electrolyte batteries. 

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