This section provides overview, applications, and principles of nickel metal hydride batteries. Also, please take a look at the list of 12 nickel metal hydride battery manufacturers and their company rankings.
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A nickel-metal hydride battery is a rechargeable battery that uses a hydrogen storage alloy for the negative electrode and nickel hydroxide for the positive electrode.
Compared to nickel-cadmium batteries, which also use nickel on the anode side, nickel-metal hydride batteries are more expensive because they use a hydrogen storage alloy instead of cadmium. Still, they can be recharged using a higher current than other batteries and have a larger capacity per unit mass.
Another feature of nickel-metal hydride batteries is that they have a relatively small memory effect compared to other rechargeable batteries, allowing them to be used repeatedly without degradation of performance.
Nickel-metal hydride batteries are used to take advantage of their high performance and long life. They are used in automotive batteries, notebook PCs, dry batteries, and other applications requiring high output and reliability.
In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have come into use, which do not have a memory effect or self-discharge and have a higher battery capacity per unit mass. However, because nickel-metal hydride batteries do not require rare metals as materials and have manufacturing advantages such as not requiring a current control circuit within the battery, Both types of batteries continue to be used together.
A nickel-metal hydride battery consists of electrodes, a separator such as non-woven fabric, and an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution as the electrolyte.
When a nickel-metal hydride battery is discharged, hydrogen ions and electrons are released from the hydrogen storage alloy at the negative electrode in the presence of hydroxide ions to produce water, while on the positive electrode side, nickel oxyhydroxide receives electrons in the presence of water to produce nickel hydroxide and hydroxide ions.
During charging, the opposite reaction occurs as during discharging: hydrogen is adsorbed by supplying electrons at the anode, while at the cathode, hydroxide ions react with nickel hydroxide to produce nickel oxyhydroxide, which releases electrons.
In the past, Co alloys were mainly used as hydrogen storage alloys for the anode to achieve high capacities, but nowadays, the Mm-Mg-Ni-Al alloys are mainly used because of their superior hydrogen storage capacity, low self-discharge, and cost advantages. For the cathode, cobalt oxyhydroxide is added to nickel oxyhydroxide to give it conductivity.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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