Nickel-hydrogen batteries performance characteristics

The silver-cadmium (cadmium/silver oxide) battery has significantly longer cycle life and better low-temperature performance than the silver-zinc battery but is inferior in these characteristics compared with the nickel-cadmium battery. Its energy density, too, is between that of the nickel-cadmium and the silver-zinc batteries. The battery is also very expensive, using two of the more costly electrode materials. As a result, the silver-cadmium battery was never developed commercially but is used in special applications, such as nonmagnetic batteries and space applications. Other silver battery systems, such as silver-hydrogen and silver-metal hydride couples, have been the subject of development activity but have not reached commercial viability. 

The vented-type battery needs to perform water addition in which water consumed by electrolysis is periodically added. However, in recent years, the vented-type nickel-cadmium secondary battery which has reduced the water addition frequency is produced commercially for trains and the like. The battery controls the electrolysis of the water under float charging by using the pasted-type cadmium electrode which has a high hydrogen overpotential characteristic for the negative electrode. 

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