Aging in chemically prepared divalent silver oxide electrodes for silver/zinc reserve batteries

The instability of silver(II) oxide electrodes used in silver/zinc reserve batteries is the well known cause of capacity loss and delayed activation in reserve batteries after they are stored in the dry, unactivated state for extended periods of time. Metal contaminants in sintered/electroformed electrodes destabilize the oxide and the solid state reaction between AgO and elemental silver results in the formation of the lower capacity monovalent oxide Ag2O. Chemically prepared (CP) AgO can be used to avoid the metal contaminants and to minimize the interfacial contact area between AgO and Ag, thus minimizing the affects of aging on the electrodes.