Rechargeable Alkaline Mn02 -Zn RAM Batteries

Li ion batteries are heavily advertised as the future power sources for electric vehicles. This seems premature because the technology of heat management and many questions of safety are not solved. Fuel cells and several types of secondary batteries have a long history in the field of electric vehicle propulsion, with successes and failures. For information on electric vehicle batteries, see [16-22], 

The design of a AA-size alkaline manganese dioxide cell is shown in Fig. 1 (Sec. 3.1). Primary and secondary alkaline batteries are constructed in the same way and can be manufactured on essentially the same machinery. The separator material, electrode formulation, and the Mn02 Zn balance are different. Rechargeable cells are zinc-limited to prevent a discharge beyond the first electron-equivalent of the MnOz reduction. The electrolyte is 7-9 mol L KOH. The electrode reactions are  

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