Nickel-based Batteries

Thomas Alva Edison invented the alkaline nickel-iron battery early in the 20 century. Iron is the negative pole of the battery, nickel oxide the positive. The cell has a terminal voltage of 1.15 V. In industrial applications and for local reserve power stations many cells are connected in series. The service lifetime for this battery type is re- 

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The last type of nickel based battery here considered is the so-called sodium-nickel chloride or Zebra battery, firstly developed in 80s in Pretoria, South Africa (Zebra stands for ZEolite Battery Research Africa). The anode is made of liquid sodium, the electrolyte is based on sodium ion conducting -alumina and the cathode is constituted by nickel chloride. This is flooded with liquid NaAlCU which acts as a secondary electrolyte, i.e., its function is to enhance the transport of sodium ions from the solid nickel chloride to and from the alumina electrolyte [19]. They work at high temperature (157°C is the temperature necessary to have sodium in its molten state, but the better performance is obtained in the range 250-350°C) and operate with the following discharge semi- reactions at the anode ... 

In old chemistry rechargeable batteries self-discharge more rapidly occttrred than disposable alkaline batteries, especially nickel-based batteries. However,... 

In contrast to lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion battery systems have always an integrated battery management, which has to be able to communicate with the power electronic components (battery inverter, charge controller) and the supervisory energy management system. Therefore, the power electronic components have to provide an appropriate interface. Furthermore, the internal battery management of the battery inverter or the charge controller, which is used for lead-acid batteries or nickel based batteries, has to be deactivated. 

Whilst it is true that lithium batteries have come to supplant nickel-based batteries in a large number of small-scale applications (such as in portable devices) or medium-scale ones (e.g. electric vehicles), they are now in competition with other technologies for energy storage on a large scale. Only with full-scale and long-term experiments will we be able to validate the most appropriate technology. 

All of these approaches have been applied to electrodes with dimensions on the miaon scale. For instance, physical contact between microelectrodes and individual particles of materials has been used to study materials used in lithinm-based (6, 7) and nickel-based batteries (8-10) microelectrodes have been extensively nsed to study single nncleation and growth on a range of substrates (11-13) and electroactive particles have been elec-trophoretically deposited onto microelectrodes (14, 15). Increasingly, snch approaches are also being used to make composite electrodes utilizing substrates with radii <1 pm. 

Temperature Dependence of Performance. Temperature has a strong influence on battery performance. As a general rule of thumb, nickel-based batteries achieve optimal performance when charged cold and discharged warm. Unfortunately, in many applications, temperature is ambient and uncontrolled. Figure 31.12 shows the effect of temperature on the discharge capacity of the nickel-zinc battery at four different rates. At lower rates, the discharge capacity is a linear function of temperature. At the 6C rate, the relationship starts to become nonlinear, primarily due to the increased conductivity of the electrolyte above 30°C. 

Reconditioning. Many alkaline rechargeable nickel-based batteries, such as nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydrogen and nickel-metal hydride, are capable of being reconditioned. Typically this means that the battery is taken to a very low state-of-charge and then recharged at a moderate rate. Sometimes the reconditioning effect is only seen after several such cycles. 

Nickel-zinc provides the lowest-cost option for a long-cycle-life alkaline-rechargeable system. The nickel-zinc system is suited for mobile applications such as electric bicycles, electric scooters and electric and hybrid vehicles or other deep cycle applications. Nickel-zinc may also replace other nickel based batteries with a less expensive system. 

As discussed in previous chapters, the separators are an integral part of liquid electrolyte batteries including nonaqueous batteries such as lithium-ion, lithium-polymer, hthium-ion gel polymer, and aqueous batteries such as zinc-carbon, zinc-manganese oxide, lead-acid, nickel-based batteries, and zinc-based batteries. 

The nickel-based batteries are nickel-iron, nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydrogen, and nickel-zinc, and the separators are simple absorbent materials. The nickel-cadmium vented battery use nonwoven nylon felt. Nonwoven fibers of PE or PP are used in the sealed version, where gaseous oxygen permeability is an essential feature of a separator. 

The latest type of rechargeable battery is the Hthium-ion battery. The reaction taking place in the cell is more complicated than in either the lead storage battery or the nickel-based batteries. Suffice it to say that lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode. The anode is made up of carbon layers in which lithium ions are embedded. The cathode is a lithium metal oxide Hke LiCo02. The electrolyte is a lithium salt in an organic solvent. 

In this chapter, we will highlight the improvements made possible in some of the battery systems and, in particular, lead-acid, nickel-based batteries and lithium-ion batteries (LlBs) through nanostructural design of electrode materials. 

Prominent nickel-based batteries are nickel-cadmium, nickel-iron and nickel-metal hydride batteries. 

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