Commercial rechargeable batteries

The nickel electrode serves as cathode for several important commercial rechargeable battery systems. The characteristics of these systems are hsted in Table 13.1. The hist commercial nickel battery was the nickel-iron system which provided lighting in railroad cars due to its strong resistance to physical and electrical abuse. The electrode structure has a strong influence on the operating life of a battery system. The nickel systems are robust, both physically and chenucally. 

Zinc is also attractive for electrically rechargeable metal/air systems because of its relative stability in alkaline electrolytes and also because it is the most active metal that can be electrodeposited from an aqueous electrolyte. The development of a practical rechargeable zinc/air battery with an extended cycle life would provide a promising high-capacity power source for many portable applications (computers, communications equipment) as well as, in larger sizes, for electric vehicles. Problems of dendrite formation, nonuniform zinc dissolution and deposition, limited solubility of the reaction product, and unsatisfactory air electrode performance have slowed progress toward the development of a commercial rechargeable battery. However, there is a continued search for a practical system because of the potential of the zinc/air battery. 

Recychng (or reuse) refers to the use (or reuse) of materials that would otherwise be disposed of or treated as a waste product. A good example is a rechargeable battery. Wastes that cannot be directly reused may often be recovered on-site through methods such as distillation. When on-site recoveiy or reuse is not feasible due to quality specifications or the inability to perform recoveiy on-site, off-site recoveiy at a permitted commerci recoveiy facihty is often a possibility. Such management techniqiies are considered secondaiy to source reduc tion and should only oe used when pollution cannot be prevented. 

There have been a number of attempts to produce commercial lithium rechargeable batteries. The V205 positive is currently used by the Matsushita Battery Industrial Co in Japan for the production of small capacity, coin-type cells. Fig. 7.24 shows a cross-section of one prototype. For the construction of the battery, V205 and carbon black are mixed together with a binder, moulded and vacuum-dried to form the positive electrode pellet. A solution of LiBF4 in a propylene carbonate-y-butyrolactone-1,2-dimethoxyethane mixture absorbed in a polypropylene separator is used as the electrolyte. 

The earliest fully commercial rechargeable lithium battery was announced in the late 1980s by a Canadian company, Moli Energy Ltd. 

Tables 1 and 2 contain characteristics of various primary and secondary battery systems, respectively. Table 3 contains performance parameters for promising rechargeable battery systems in various stages of research and commercial development.

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