Stability enhancement of the CoOOH conductive network of nickel hydroxide electrodes

Nickel hydroxide is used as the electrochemically active material in positive electrodes of rechargeable alkaline batteries. Well-spread CoOOH is used as the conductive network to enhance the utilization of the nickel hydroxide. If the nickel hydroxide electrode is subjected to a negative potential it may display an enduring capacity loss due to an irreversible electrochemical reduction of CoOOH. In this paper it has been demonstrated that the addition of MnO2 to nickel hydroxide pressed powder electrodes ensures 100% capacity retention after imposing reducing conditions.