Battery Research Gregor

=Overview= The following represents a massive amount of research undertaken by Gregor in development of the GVCS Battery.

=Research= The parts added by me,Gregor, are only my personal notes, essentially unedited and may be indecipherable, but it was that or much less research would be here because I only had so much time to put in. In some cases parts will appear to mean nothing to people who are not already knowledgeable on the subject, or there may even be notes that only make sense in context of what I was thinking at the time. I am a believer in a high level of transparency, and I could have chosen to leave this on my hard drive instead, but I am more interested in success than avoiding embarrassment. I am no longer working on this project much due to management issues on the OSE project so if you want it cleaned up you will have to do it yourself.

Did some googling around and making notes, here is what I found, this is ordered chronologically and I will try to organize the information into sections later, but this is only a sampling of the information available. Sorry about the perforated boxes, I have not been able to stop the wiki from doing that, and the lack of hard returns is another wiki quirk:

http://www.changhongbatteries.com/Ni-Fe_battery_for_Solar_&_wind_appliances_p53_m2.2.1.html
 * apparently their efficiency goes *up* with time over about 2 years 80% as mentioned in the forum, purportedly unknown exactly why, would be nice to know.
 * from the manufacturer's of the modern batteries seems like efficiency is reasonably high actually, was not able to determine if the charging efficiency is nearly equal to the round trip efficiency, so the graphs might paint an overly rosy picture, but I think it is pretty close

low quality taken from browser history:
 * http://www.beutilityfree.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106:Ni-FeFAQ&catid=42:Nickel-Iron%20Batteries
 * http://www.green-trust.org/wordpress/2010/07/14/american-made-nickel-iron-nife-forever-batteries/
 * http://www.ironcorepower.com.au/page3.php
 * http://www.varta-automotive.com/index.php?id=87
 * http://www.ehow.com/way_5993981_homemade-edison-cell.html
 * http://ps-survival.com/PS/Batteries/NiMH/Iron-Nickel_Battery_2008.pdf
 * http://www.electro-tech-online.com/renewable-energy/100471-building-good-working-capacity-ni-fe-battery.html
 * http://www.incompliancemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56:the-lost-almost-technology-of-the-edison-cell&catid=29:just-for-fun&Itemid=138

higher quality
 * http://www.nickel-iron-battery.com/
 * http://fieldlines.com/board/index.php?topic=144379.0 says "combiner caps" catalytic caps are available
 * http://sustainabledesignupdate.com/2010/02/green-battery-design/ says they have/had a team developing them
 * I emailed them http://apptechdesign.org/contact-us/ as asking for any documentation they can send on their work
 * http://www.solarpowerforum.net/forumVB/off-grid/4509-nickel-iron-batteries-8.html on one page here includes list of manufacturers that currently make them

the product pages etc form blog post http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/nat_Fak_IV/Organische_Chemie/Didaktik/Keusch/chembox_edison-e.htm

more on nickel iron ChangHong
 * searched on freepatents online
 * nickel iron electrochemical cell[p]
 * nickel iron battery[p]
 * nickel-iron battery[p]
 * nickel iron cell
 * nickel iron secondary cell
 * nickel iron AN/changhong
 * nickel iron AN/varta (changhong website says tehir battery tech is made from varta
 * nickel oxyhydroxide battery at this there are many on nickel zinc batteries too might be useful bu tmost were omitted from notes below
 * nickel oxyhydroxide electrode
 * nickel oxyhydroxide battery

a lot on nickel zinc but since the cathode material is the same might be useful but most were omitted from below since there are so many

went through the first pages of results, got surprisingly few given how old these are, the search hits were usually very low relevance by the end of the first page so didn't continue past there though there were some on nickel zinc

assignee changhong: also the related patents thing on the patent webpages might be useful to find even more

maybe email the suppliers through alibaba to see who own the technology base and if they have any documentation

high quality

emailed http://apptechdesign.org/contact-us/ again on may 15asking for documentation on nickel iron more links
 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K84PywMwjZg didn't watch indivudual says has read mulitiple edison patents coudl contact them to ge tnumbers and advice, couldn't find a way through youtube

all things considered there seem to be very few patents related to nickel iron batteries, but a lot more on nickel zinc for some reason, also this searching through patentsonline did not unearth the edison patents so there is room for improvement in the search method. Also the swedishand german patents should be retireved and translated though I assume they would be in swedish or german so I did not do that. There are probably more edison patents to be uncovered.

What is a "chemical short"? thermal runaway type thing? Nickel iron is known to be prone to thermal runaway need to know the electrochemistry involved here, might refer to coloumbic leakage rather than an actual short i.e. ions in the electrolyte moving in the opposite direction or electrons consumed in some

It appears that as usual the electrochemistry of a good rather than crappy battery is not so simple, especially over a large number of charge/discharge cycles.

Clearly a chemist or someone else with significant expertise is needed here to work out the details. For example sulfur from vulcanized rubber can contaminate the battery chemistry apparently according to the edison patents. IIRC steel has a small quantities of sulfur in it so using sheet metal as the anode might not work out although that of course remains to be determined....

On may 17 I had another look for useful information:

There may be one or two duplicates here, in many cases for scientific docs those look like the most interesting but I did not have access to them. Someone with access could perhaps retrieve them and share them with developers who ask under fair use I think.


 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43MDKGV-3T&_user=10&_coverDate=02%2F28%2F1990&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754749372&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=fbe875e250bbedd5c9c31cc21f22158d&searchtype=a
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43MDRN3-67&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F1991&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754737867&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6cd39f8af38d365d4f7f3c3310c19022&searchtype=ais

In many cases docs were focussed on weight and discharge rate, but that is not out main concern, mainly $ per kWh and cycle life, with a discharge rate of at least 0.3 C (i.e. 300 watts for a 1kWh batt) it would work okay for pure solar systems, for biomass a higher discharge woudl be nice as it's primary function is to level the load on an hourly and daily basis at relatively high powers so a higher discharge rate could allow a smaller battery (whereas with pure solar you need a battery big enough to last for 3 days anyway and therefor even if the discharge rate as a fraction of capacity is low that is not a problem since the battery is so big anyway). However because batteries wear out partly as a function of the energy dumped into/removed (also ambient temperature but this will vary depending on the precise details of the battery, on ironedison.com it indicates substantial loss from elevated temperatures but the precise reaction that causes this needs to be identified) from them they may be considered on both a capital cost and running cost basis. Higher discharge rates will not in themselves affect the running cost, only capital cost, which may or may not be relatively small, that would need to be considered before effort is expended to produce a battery that would be okay with higher discharge rates. Secondly, there are no hard and fast rules on discharge rate for a given battery except to prevent overheating and achieve good energy efficiency, or for unusual reasons which are chemistry specific. The rules of thumb listed in battery datasheets are computed based on thermal characteristics, internal resistance of the battery (the higher it is the lower the discharge/charge rate you would want because Ohms law applies, therefore higher currents result in higher resistive losses) and in some cases unusual battery chemistry details like high speed charging resulting in wierd crystal structures of the anode or dendrite growth. Usually a battery can be operated above the rated charge/discharge rate as an engineering compromise though, which should be kept i nmind

In an OSE context it may no longer make sense to talk about battery cycle life in the same way. In a consumer context when a battery goes dead you get a new one, in some cases paying to get rid of th old one. And yet the active materials have not dissapeared. However there are sometimes irreversible side reactions that occur, changes in chemistry, the electrode that was supposed dto provide mechanical sterngth etc has dessolved, etc. For lead acid batteries there is information available on this of course. What is it for nickel iron? There is a whole industry based on rejuvenating "dead" lead acid batteris though clever chemisttry techniwues etc. and perhaps analogous techniques shoudl be worked out for nickel iron as part of this project. That could help to substantially decreae the effective running cost fo the batteries. There may already be a lot of information in existence to be drawn upon as these batteries have be used since they were invented in niche markets such as european mining, and in China, rather than as it is portrayed as beign forgotten.

By the way from what I have read this stuff about batteries lasting 50 years that some manufacturer's claim either includes this maintenance or it is bunk. They may last 3, 4 or 5 times as long as lead acid but certainly not 50 years of daily use without some kind of serious maintenance.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-44CVXGT-F&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754742248&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ec803b11bf9489e6f5a74dad0ccbfcce&searchtype=a

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-3VR6J5Y-2&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F1996&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754736866&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5fe7b156fc556763f1a2488f1a2eef78&searchtype=a

something about activatign the iron electrode,

[54] BATTERY-GRADE NICKEL HYDROXIDE AND METHOD FOR ITS PREPARATION this one might have been already noted elsewhere

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-4679T4B-1B&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F1995&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754734072&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=84892d5964e609a899d54fbde534666c&searchtype=a good info on cycle life of exisyong cels

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TG0-44CHX0D-90&_user=10&_origUdi=B6TH1-4679T4B-1B&_fmt=high&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F1976&_rdoc=1&_orig=article&_origin=article&_zone=related_art&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cacbfb701007ce4d2ed73e9ffecb40a7 self discharge

"battery grade nickel oxydydroxide" mayb be many such patents or the same on keep seeing nickel/iron

higher quality:
 * http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5525702 pdf seems to be here free http://www.nickel-iron-battery.com/sealed-nickel-iron-battery.pdf
 * http://www.nickel-iron-battery.com/nickel-iron-cycle-testing-1995.pdf cyle testing
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43MDJS6-2N&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F1994&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754797265&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d2f1168545feacb1d7834ffd30cf729b&searchtype=a
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43MDSPY-6S&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F1991&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754794033&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=96fe8af78e49f181bae86df2a1085081&searchtype=a
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TG0-3Y0SH11-B&_user=10&_coverDate=02%2F29%2F1996&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754792458&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c47dbade5e61e0f4de4ac3707698bafe&searchtype=a coudl eb wuite iomportant, lithium hydroxide is often added to nickel iron batteries and this explains why, but litium is actually quite toxic (used as mood stabilizer for depression etc.) so shoudl be avoided if possible or unless the amounts are quite small, maybe sustitues can be found or maybe the edison batteries do not use it and are fine so it can be omitted. Also it is yet another component to add to the system and synthesize which is bad for OSE, how common is lithium in the environment?.
 * http://www.google.ca/patents?lr&vid=USPAT3849198&dq=nickel-iron%20%20battery&printsec=abstract&id=PEUtAAAAEBAJ&output=text&pg=PA1
 * http://www.google.ca/patents?lr&vid=USPAT2653180&dq=nickel-iron%20%20battery&printsec=abstract&id=9mRlAAAAEBAJ&output=text&pg=PA2 on a battery itsself looks like a good one
 * http://www.google.ca/patents?lr&vid=USPAT4680241&dq=nickel-iron%20%20battery&printsec=abstract&id=ACEvAAAAEBAJ&output=text&pg=PA1 good info too and method of restorign lost capacity
 * http://www.google.ca/patents?lr&vid=USPAT3507696&dq=nickel-iron%20%20battery&printsec=abstract&id=tQ0hAAAAEBAJ&output=text&pg=PA2 interesting but has some funny parts like saying oxidization not known from th 70s maybe thats why explains iron passivation of leecctrode this coudl be important

lower quality:

There area many patents on the nickel electrode geometries and how to make them ususally intended for nimh or nickle zinc but coudl be used for us too, though again the perforated pockets are porbbaly adequate for our purposes anyway, they are usually intended to solve problems like low energy density etc which is not amajor problem for us anyway
 * http://www.google.ca/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT4844999&id=ujE1AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=nickel+iron++oxyhydroxide+battery&printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q&f=false
 * http://www.google.ca/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT5861225&id=8LEYAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=nickel+iron++oxyhydroxide+battery&printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q&f=false

electrodes:
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V3F-50P47KJ-2&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1754805309&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e286d03850bd05025a213e592d004af5&searchtype=a making ni(oh)2

[54] PROCESS FOR PRODUCING BATTERY ELECTRODES BY ELECTROCHEMICAL REDUCTION

May 19
I am making this a separate section because the wiki put a warning that the page may have been to long for some browsers to edit without breaking into categories.

Maybe look at the most specific or relevant patents and then search using the names of inventors etc.

The conductive scaffold for active material is referred to as a plaque of it is metallic (and maybe if not).

nickel iron cycle testing pdf has somethin gabout mucic acid to reduce the production of gas during charging that was from a pantent could probbaly find the patent

"Nickel hydroxide has been used for many years as an active electrode material for the positive electrode of alkaline batteries. The nickel hydroxide electrodes for these electrochemical cells traditionally fall into one of two major groups, sintered electrodes or pasted electrodes. Sintered electrodes are typically prepared by loading nickel hydroxide into a microporous substrate formed of a perforated steel sheet or mesh followed by sintering to form nickel oxyhydroxide, NiOOH.[why do the sintering if it is already loaded with nickel hydroxide??] The more recent pasted electrodes are prepared by producing an aqueous mixture of nickel hydroxide powder in a suitable carrier such as carboxymethyl cellulose. A porous metal substrate of fiber, foam or sponge is then impregnated with the solution to fill the pores of the substrate with nickel hydroxide. One advantage of the pasted nickel electrodes is the higher energy level approaching and even exceeding 600 mAh/cc compared to the typical energy density for sintered electrodes of about 400 mAh/cc. "

From the sealed nickel iron battery doc: Negative-limited Ni–Fe cells were assembled by stacking an iron electrode in between two sintered nickelpositive electrodes. The cells were housed in plexiglass containers in starved-electrolyte configuration, and were sealed with a plug containing 0.5 g of 2 at.% Pt/CeO2 hydrogen–oxygen recombinant catalyst mixed with an equal amount of fumed silica. 6 V/1 Ah sealed, starvedelectrolyte Ni–Fe batteries were assembled in a plexiglass container comprising five compartments to

What? no Oxyhydroxide? When/how is it formed ?

maybe possible to form nickel hydroxide from metallic electrolytically, metallic nickel may be more expensive anyway though

faradaic efficiency of nickel iron cells, the sealed battery paper says is only 60% but again goes up over time to 80%

new docs http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5989746.html listsa a few types of nickel electrode
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B9D09-4XS7F7F-1Y&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F15%2F2010&_alid=1757347847&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=62089&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=344&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f5345ae331acfe5d91b37b4cb71b71e1&searchtype=a iormn electrodes looks like a lot of good info
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B9D09-4XS7F7F-1Y&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F15%2F2010&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=5&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=62089&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0fa1ea2604ddbade0366a4b993858648&searchtype=a

searched "nickel iron batteries" on sciencedirect.com and went through the first 3 pages &_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f94cc3c3f3988c1195112305e5e27202&searchtype=a
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-4679T4B-1B&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F1995&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=2&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-44CVXGT-F&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2001&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=8&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=4f44f20466b2bb38bc245235eba2cd50&searchtype=a
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43MDSPY-6S&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F1991&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=12&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=07ede512e3dc7e881d576ed4fcbe3f02&searchtype=a looks good
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43VTNX2-6K&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F1984&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=19&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6616194027956cbac9b3980a6a214093&searchtype=a no abstract
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43MDMPD-41&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1980&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=28&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ef756e00b8a704b046490ace01449657&searchtype=a different author than the last
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-43VTNX2-6M&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F1984&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=39&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3ec0bee33859bbc8aae348e20b2e76ab&searchtype=a might be duplicate cant tell since cant see it
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-4CK1XJK-4&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F12%2F2004&_alid=1757348188&_rdoc=50&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=5535&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f9270093cb99fc5e8c6ad5b365e3d437&searchtype=a "pocket plate technology"? also talks about additives but probably for nickel metal hydride I think

it employs electrodes with the pocket plate construction wherein the active material is encapsulated between double perforated folded steel strips. http://www.hblnicad.co.uk/Our%20Products.htm

note, these links are all broken, I have gone back and retrieved the titles of the papers and others, they are listed lower down http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5989746.html a pocket-type electrode, obtained by compressing electrochemically active material, in this case hydroxide Ni(OH) 2, mixed with a conductor, into a metal pocket having perforated walls so that the electrolyte can impregnate the active material, but the active material cannot escape from the pocket; and

Maybe vacuum for gettin gpaste into the porous electrode, expose electrode to vacuum, cover in paste then expose to atmospheric, paste gets sucked into electrode, could also put electrode in a pan then vover with paste and maybe do one vacuum cycle

make a complete contained widget machine or glove box for electrode production to contain the (moderately) toxic materials if have to use paste

Cost of nickel oxide and hydroxide to determin if they might be cheaper than metal nickel in terms of the quantity of nickel:

Prices on the pages are FOB: free on board; assumption of responsibility by shipper for all costs until goods are placed on carrier, whatever carrier is, presumabbly the shipping company.

Ranges from 7 to 30$ on alibaba.com some grades migh tnot be suitable for batteris due to impurities, this can probably be determined from the information in the scientific articles and some manufacturer's conveniently say it is suitable for batteries. Detailed analysis may be available from suppliers. Samples may be obtainable form suppliers for prototyping with the specific material of concern. NiO2 (oxide) and Ni2O3 (peroxide) or NiO see wikipedia for CAS numbers  but the pages sometimes fail to distinguish saying oxide always? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_chemical_formulas/Merge/N note that chemical suppliers are sometimes very sloppy about talking about chemicals and chemical names and may make mistakes, a lot of chemists are, with oxide meaning any of the oxides so need to double check the exact chemical used in the patents if the route of producing nickel oxyhydroxide from nickel oxide by oxidization in o2 gas, ozone in solution or humid ozone gas or otherwise, is chosen.

Details on which impurities are problematic needs to be tracked down so the cheapest stuff that will do can be used. Testing works to some degree but not if the impurity causes reduced life which would go undetected. Nickel hydroxide I did not check yet because I still need to look at other patents and see if electrode can be made straight from it.

alibaba, jus tsearch nickel oxide or "nickel oxide" battery
 * http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/406028137/Nickel_oxide.html
 * http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/292513004/SHMMC_Nickel_Oxide_Ni_more_than.html
 * http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/430054234/Nickel_oxide_74_.html 7$
 * http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/241109238/Nickelous_Oxide.html

conclusion: In terms of nickel content, depends on who it is purchased from etc. But it is usually substantially cheaper than nickel metal.

The if vacuum is use for pasted equivalent electrode, battery could be designed such that the pasting process occurs inside the battery maybe no point though, but trying to keep the reactions and toxic materials in the battery during manufacture rateher than needing to pour and transfer them would be nice, and using nickel metal as a starter material coudl be a perk in that regard actually nickel oxide not soluble in water is it? No do not accept "insoluble" as an answer, want to know exactly how soluble

Is apparent that the reaction products stay put where the reaction material was before, unlike in a lead acid battery where they form a sludge of material at the bottom of the battery, that assumption tripped me up for a bit there so be it known.

http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Paper/11920038 solubility of NiO

maybe post on amateur chemist forums when the time comes ask for help clearin up uncertainties, maybe experimenting like finding solubility of nickel oxyhydroxide or p  iron air battery sounds interesing http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4474862.html wonder what the efficiency for rechargnin is probably very low, could make a good electrid lifetrack


 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B9D09-4XS7F7F-1Y&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F15%2F2010&_alid=1757708553&_rdoc=4&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=62089&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=2063&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=8cc228681b8c7fe749c54ac6ede1fad4&searchtype=a might be duplicate
 * http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-3VR6J5Y-2&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F1996&_alid=1757708553&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5269&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=2063&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9d946a5af21722601c868ded3c95c8ed&searchtype=a might be duplicate

No doubt this applies to searches in other venues as well like on sciencedirect etc.

While at first it appears there is relatively little info on these batteries there is a vast amount just under the surface that can be mined out and is fairly informative. Clearly after the information is mined out of the public spaces there will still be plenty left squirreled away by companies for one reason or another that is just not available to us. Some of this will need to be re figured out on paper by someone with some chemistry knowledge/ rediscovered though prototyping/testing/research.

aluminum air if coudl use aluminum elecrdodes from clay wonder how to make the gas permeable electrode though maybe coudl metallize a gas permable polymer layer with vacuum vapor deposition or similar or could maye the polymer slighlyt conductive and embed metallic fibers or similar

check out other ways to make active iron electrodes are probably lots of them, includes a low solubility sulfide mixed in the iron or added in excess to the electrolyte, adding sulfide to the iron electrode, other ways of getting sulfite where it needs to be, apparently present as an impurity in adequate amount in some iron anyway so thats handy.

nickel zinc might be worth lookin g into since they have higher cahrge/discharge efficiency are more efficient

searchable archive of the pdfs which I ocred, I tried to upload this to the wiki but it is more than 7 megs and not a permitted file type (.zip) not can batch uploading of PDFs be done, so maybe someone else can put this information on the wiki where it will not disappear in the future as it will on zippyshare, but will rather remain conveniently searchable for future developers: http://www30.zippyshare.com/v/76183680/file.html

why is it that edison keeps mentioning that sulfur is undesirable in the vulcanized rubber in the insulators but in modern batteries is is used to acitvate the electrode?

yet another optio nfo the anode is to take copper crystals and iron particles and compress them into a blockL 2683182 says low purity iron can be used for this

How hard would it be to make the nickel cloth again? if diffusion bonding is needed then that reduces the benefit of using steel wool and cloth can't release inhalable fibers when you dont want it to, maybe sintering not so bad either  would be durable too , oh it nickel plating of the wool happens after diffusion bonding it says maybe beat or vacuum clean or blast with high pressure air the steel wool to reduce the amount of small fibers involved to reduce amount of stuff that migh tbe released subsequently maybe no point nickel metal anyway http://www.nmfrc.org/epadocs/1994f.htm on chemicall yplating steel wool

maybe nickel foil but without compression no probably not need the metal scaffold to be condictive throughout maybe a method could be developed to use salt or sugar and get the nickel foil bit sto bond with electrochemical plate-out

maybe plate-out on the active material or a polymer matrix?

check the polymer paste methods again maybe flouropolymer not needed coudl use a different material combo they mention also they explain why they use fluoropolymer, highly hydrophobic, maybe a substitute can be found.

also check the conductive pyrolyzed plastic again check conductivit of activated carbon etc to see conductivity of pyrolized biomass that US3853624.pdf file gives an idea of the sort of fiber density and size that is suitable for electrodes Maybe thixotropic material to prevent escape, have a look at gells again do the diffuse and sort of spread throughout a liwuid they are immersed in or stay solid maybe the nickel plating process would electrically attach the wool together appropriately
 * http://acs.omnibooksonline.com/data/papers/1997_ii454.pdf looks very high 30 ohm/cm vs 6.9 microohm per cm for nickel, if the plaque is 10% dense specific resistivity of the resulting matrix material pretty high 300 ohm/cm maybe it is a lot lower with pyrolized polymers
 * http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:VngbRXiriPcJ:acs.omnibooksonline.com/data/papers/2004_E060.pdf+http://acs.omnibooksonline.com/data/papers/2004_E060.pdf&hl=en&gl=ca says 1.99177x10-3 δ /cm which is plenty low esp if combine switha central nickel rod or nickel wire

wool needs to be cleaned adequately first

with the iron electrode make it from scratch What to do about the need to obtain nickel from environment in abundance?

if do buy stuff needs to be commodity as possible so no buyin nickel wool or electroplate stuff then

That leaves the polymer maybe dense polymer fibers woudl work

bickel plated bolts for final termination, and probably a bit more fragile (though actually carbon fiber is pretty tough) so might want to make the branching of the fiber stuff heirarchical if can maybe test it for wtrenght first also extra dense can be done easily also support it in the casing of the battery with foam supports to distribute loads due to shock etc and make it a block instead of a plate maybe check the tensile strength of pyrolized plastics of varying sorts esp common and cheap ones remember carbon fiber is made by pyrolizing aramid right and we can make polyaramid 11 or whatever see wikipedia under biopolymers

need to find the patents that mentioned downsides of including carbon or graphite in the electrodes on either side

block can have veritcal and horizontal holes etc. easily to allow gas to excape s

for heirarchy could use fiber and powder together need to have contingency pland in case a certain commodity no longer available hardly, also need co calculate costs as go along they have to be less than commercial batteries, if as mentioned above only a quarter of the active electrode on iron side actually gets used (also tells how much material need to sinter to make the electrode), also on the nickel side need to know what fraction of active material gets used

"Eagle Pitcher Ni " is a commercial plaque sutiable fo rht enickel side

damn, went back to look at some of the scientific articles and the urls are all broken and cant be fixed. no correlation between url and articles at all .search browser history to find the title and put them with the urls so can find the articles again

scrap nickel prices? with electrolytic loading maybe particularly easy to use scrap metal though of course it can be used anyway in one way or another.

find what fraction of nickel can expect to be actually used for a battery like with iroon eectrode compare for different electrode types esp edison and nickel plated steel wool, in the scientific docs that describe construction of cell this would be revealed, maybe in some patents too, remember seeing the information on weight and amp hour capacity of a pocket electrode by edison in his patents, need to look it up again, the efficiency will probably be a lot higher for a pasted electrode.

bulk conductivity of steel wool at large medium and small scales

Okay my browser malfunctioned when I was searching for the names of the articles from my history and wiped out the history. So I search again for the best ones and started copying the titles downWe basically want all of them that mention nickel iron specifically and most of the others that relate to eletrodes made from nickel oxyhydroxide, and metallic iron and/or iron oxides. The electrode ones may not mention "nickel iron" per se because e.g. a good iron electrode in nickel iron battery can also be used in many other battery chemistries. searched "nickel-iron" battery went through to end of second page
 * "nickel-iron" storage cell searched first page only one up at the top
 * "nickel/iron" battery  searche dto the end of second page
 * Nickel iron battery need to record searched to the end of the 3rd page page
 * Nickel iron electrode record went through thr first 2 pages migh tbe more
 * also can look at the related papers section

Assessment of performance characteristics of the nickelnext term---previous termiron cellnext term

Self-discharge of Fe–Ni alkaline batteriesnext term

The role of FeS and (NH4)2CO3 additives on the pressed type Fe electrodenext term

The electrochemical properties of Fe2O3-loaded carbon electrodesnext term for previous termironnext term–air previous termbatterynext term anodes

Effect of metal-sulfide additives on electrochemical properties of nano-sized Fe2O3-loaded carbon for Fe/air batterynext term anodes

Passivation of ironnext term in alkaline carbonate solutions

Electrochemical characteristics of ironnext term carbide as an active material in alkaline previous termbatteriesnext term

­Temperature limitations of primary and secondary alkaline battery electrodesnext term

97/03847 Performance characterization of sintered ironnext term electrodes in previous termnickel/ironnext term alkaline previous termbatteriesnext term

SECONDARY BATTERIES - NICKEL SYSTEMS Electrodes: Nickel
Assessment of performance characteristics of the nickelnext term---previous termironnext term cell

Nickelnext term-based rechargeable previous termbatteriesnext term

Developmental studies on porous iron electrodesnext term for the previous termnickel---ironnext term cell Performance characterization of sintered ironnext term electrodes in previous term nickel/ironnext term alkaline previous termbatteriesnext term

On the key importance of homogeneity in the electrochemical performance of industrial positive active materials in nickel batteriesnext term Electrochemical behaviour of Teflon-bonded ironnext term oxide previous termelectrodesnext term in alkaline solutions Rechargeable alkaline iron electrodesnext term high curent though Performance characterization of sintered ironnext term electrodes in previous termnickel/ironnext term alkaline previous termbatteriesnext term

The role of lithium in preventing the detrimental effect of ironnext term on alkaline previous termbattery nickelnext term hydroxide electrode: A mechanistic aspect looks like not just about nihm may be some applicable to nife too Role of activation on the performance of the ironnext term negative previous termelectrodenext term in previous termnickel/ironnext term cells Rechargeable alkaline iron electrodes

Microstructure changes to ironnext term nanoparticles during discharge/charge cycles The discharge capacity of the first cycle was extremely high, 510 mAh/g-Fe, at a current density of 200 mA/g-Fe, check what that is well, it;s 510 Ah per Kg as compared with the ~250 figures in the patents for sintered electrodes with reduced salts on their surfaces (a high rate one) and 960

Really interesting looking :\

Assessment of performance characteristics of the nickelnext term---previous termironnext term cell

The nickel/ironnext term battery
 * SECONDARY BATTERIES - NICKEL SYSTEMS Nickel–Iron
 * SECONDARY BATTERIES - NICKEL SYSTEMS
 * SECONDARY BATTERIES - NICKEL SYSTEMS Electrodes: Iron

A nickel-iron batterynext term with roll-compacted previous termironnext term electrodes

Less interesting:

The role of lithium in preventing the detrimental effect of ironnext term on alkaline previous termbattery nickelnext term hydroxide electrode: A mechanistic aspect

Iron/next termcarbon-black composite nanoparticles as an previous termironnext term electrode material in a paste type rechargeable alkaline previous termbatterynext term

Research, development and demonstration of a nickel—iron batterynext term for electric vehicle propulsion there are several papers with this term LO

Microfibrous nickelnext term substrates and electrodes for previous termbatterynext term system applications can't use them anyway most likely though maybe The fabricated previous termnickelnext term electrodes that included a supporting previous termnickelnext term mesh in the substrate tested in a 26% KOH half-cell delivered a specific capacity of more than 250 mAh/g of the electrode weight (i.e. fibrous substrate, previous termnickelnext term mesh, and active material) at a 1.0 C discharge rate. An Auburn electrode without a previous termnickelnext term mesh tested in the same half-cell attained a higher specific capacity of 268 mAh/g at a 1.37 C discharge rate. The substrates used in these electrodes had porosities of 95–97%, and greatly improved the specific capacity of the previous termnickelnext term electrode. With the use of the previous termmicrofibrousnext term electrode, improved specific energies of previous termnickelnext term-based cell and previous termbatterynext term designs are possible. When assembled in a previous termnickelnext term–hydrogen (Ni–H2) boilerplate cell, the specific capacity of nearly 230 mAh/g was observed for the previous termnickelnext term electrode at a 0.5 C rate during the 127th cycle test.


 * Assessment of performance characteristics of the nickelnext term---previous termironnext term cell
 * The electrochemical generation of ferrate at pressed ironnext term powder previous termelectrode:next term comparison with a foil previous termelectrodenext term
 * The role of FeS and (NH4)2CO3 additives on the pressed type Fe electrodenext term
 * Alkaline poly(ethylene oxide) solid polymer electrolytes. Application to nickelnext term secondary previous termbatteriesnext term

least interesting

Alkaline Battery Separators
 * Importance of alkaline accumulators in the application of renewable resources, can tell something about the needed performance reqs
 * The role of halide ions on the electrochemical behaviour of ironnext term in alkali solutions
 * Nickelnext term-based rechargeable previous termbatteriesnext term
 * maybe or clearly probably only applicable to nihm but didn't want to loose
 * Effect of zinc and ironnext term ions on the electrochemistry of previous termnickelnext term oxide previous termelectrode:next term slow cyclic voltammetry
 * An electrochemically impregnated sintered-nickel electrodenext term An electrochemically impregnated sintered-previous termnickelnext term porous previous termelectrodenext term with a capacity of 225 ± 10 mAh per g of active material has been developed nihm, can calculate from wikipedia how much that is relative totheoretical  also in one of the above it was mentioned the overall weight of the electrode for a fibrous electrode vs. current per gram, could make asumptions actually said it was 97 oercent porous so that tells how much but migth be weightin the water too still puts a lower boundary
 * Electrocatalysis of anodic oxygen evolution at the nickelnext term hydroxide previous termelectrodenext term by ferric hydroxo species in alkaline electrolytes
 * The significance of electrochemical impedance spectra recorded during active oxygen evolution for oxide covered Ni, Co and Fe electrodesnext term in alkaline solution
 * The influences of some additives on electrochemical behaviour of nickel electrodesnext term
 * The role of lithium in preventing the detrimental effect of ironnext term on alkaline battery previous termnickelnext term hydroxide previous termelectrode:next term A mechanistic aspect
 * The effect of lithium in preventing ironnext term poisoning in the previous termnickelnext term hydroxide previous termelectrodenext term

may 21

 * http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5989746.html A nickel electrode of the pasted type is made by depositing a paste either on a two-dimensional conductive support such as expanded metal, a grid, a fabric, a solid strip, or a perforated strip, or else in a three-dimensional conductive support that is porous such as a felt, a metal foam, or a carbon foam. so carbon okay prob at nickel electrode though saw another one that mentioned it had significant downsides

purpose of cobalt additives mmight be to increase conductivivty
 * a polymer cloth pocket could be used to keep the paste in, maybe this was partly what the pocket used in the sealed battery doc was for doubt it because had elastomer binde r
 * Document EP-0 658 948 describes an Ni--MH alkaline storage cell provided with a positive electrode of the pasted nickel electrode type constituted by nickel hydroxide, as its active material, and by graphite, as its conductor. The nickel positive electrode provides the storage cell with increased stability at high temperatures of use. Furthermore, it can be seen that the nickel positive electrode cannot be associated with a cadmium negative electrode, because, in that case, the graphite oxidizes into carbonate ions which pass into the electrolyte.
 * To increase the rapid discharge performance of a non-sintered nickel electrode, document JP-57 138 776 proposes a conductor constituted by a mixture of particles, preferably of graphite powder, and of fibers made of carbon or of stainless steel, for example. stainless steel okay?
 * During the first charge of an alkaline storage cell provided with a nickel electrode containing a cobalt compound as its conductor, said compound is oxidized into cobalt oxyhydroxide CoOOH in which the cobalt is brought to oxidation number +3. The cobalt oxyhydroxide is stable in the normal operating range of the nickel positive elec
 * ask chemist if there is a conductive polymer that would be okay for the nickel (resistant to redox environment) and if it is expensive or coudl be synthesised by makers
 * there was on that mentioned that nichrome wire or mesh could be used migh tbe more available thatn nickel

Battery-grade nickel hydroxide and method for its preparation B Aladjov - US Patent 5,788,943, 1998

http://edison.rutgers.edu/battpats.htm patent 01488480 describes some failure modes and fix looks like ause for the waste glycerine from biodeisel too

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6335120.html (duplicate) Several types of electrode exist, in particular sintered electrodes and non-sintered nickel electrodes, also referred to as impasted or plasticized electrodes.

maybe rods would be useful if nickel mulit strand wire is avilable or something

maybe putting the electrodes horizontally could be better to prevent loss of paste for one of the electrodes if wanted to eliminate binders and density an fibrosity of fiber mat was relatively low (like steel wool?), could then have either other electrode horx too with tray spearating it from the other one and conduction occuring aroud edges of tray also coudl have cloth barrier or something tightly woven to reduce escape of particles during mecahnica lagitation, or have electrolyte ffairly viscous with an additive, probably not much of a problem thoug heven if particle sget fro, one electrode to the other they would just stay there in the discharged state, main thing is to keep active material close to the current collector, also could be adjacent then stack for battery, check what effective the resistance of the electrolyte is, might be too high for this to be practical (ionic current of the relevant ions vs/ voltage). If a bed of fibrous nonwoven cloth material like tyvek or what is used often in depth filters for water filters, which is a effective particle barrier at the particle sizes concerned, but also a high porosity for ionic current, could form the bottom of the tray

in terms of shape changes of active material particles or mass that one with the nanoparticles had evidence of it changing but aparently happens quite little as was not a problem for even them causeing relatively little variation in particle size and total surface area  thoug hit was growth in particle size/reduction in active area. wait, that migh thave been a nickel hydride cell double check, but in any case this is the assumption; very little change in particle or surface geometry occurs, though some does and this is taken advantage sometimes to electrolytically attach the particles together and to the current collector surface for better conductivity, also particles that are not attached such that electron current flow can practically occur are not utilized as active mass (they are wasted) so it's important to have them connected in this way. In edison cells a significant fraction is wasted, need to check again how much, can comput form wieght of the tubes etc.

should eventual;y preserve the research page by spidering to prevent link death being a problem, then upload the finished webpage with files maybe 3 deep for links so get pdf files for posterity since development will continue and also for repair manuals writing etc.

more docs:
 * google scholar'd "nickel-iron" battery electrode and went through the first 100 hits:
 * Journal of Materials Science Letters Volume 12, Number 9, 620-622, DOI: 10.1007/BF00465571 Electrochemical impregnation of the nickel hydroxide electrode under ultrasonic irradiation A. Chiba, T. Tani and Y. Ouchi
 * Electrocatalysis of anodic oxygen evolution at the nickel hydroxide electrode by ferric hydroxo species in alkaline electrolytes hi
 * Comparative Study of Fe2O3-Nanoloaded Carbon and Fe2O3-Nano/Carbon Mixed Composites for Iron-Air Battery Anodes
 * Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., Volume 8, Issue 9, pp. A476-A480 (2005) LO
 * 6V, 60Ah nickel-iron battery.
 * Bulletin of Electrochemistry. Vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 263-265. 1990
 * High reversibility of the charge discharge reaction leads to the longest service life. The iron electrode has low hydrogen overvoltage. Its ionisation potential and hydrogen evolution potential are very close in alkaline medium. As a result, the self discharge of this system is 1-2% of the nominal capacity at 300K (1). The advanced Ni/Fe batteries with an energy density of 55-82 Wh/kg (2,3) serve as power sources for electric vehicles. The electrode fabrication techniques and the performance characteristics of the 6V, 60 Ah Ni/Fe battery are presented in this paper. * Very HI


 * Open-circuit potential—time transients of alkaline porous iron electrodes at various states-of-charge
 * Purchase
 * $ 31.50
 * Solid-State and Structural Chemistry Unit, and Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560 012, India iron air mostly LO


 * Effect of synthesis conditions on characteristics of the precursor material used in NiO·OH/Ni(OH)2 electrodes of alkaline batteries LO


 * Mechanisms of self-discharge of the negative of alkaline accumulators available as html without images through google's view as html, google title and there it is

"The self-discharge of the negative in nickel-iron batteries is caused mainly by the   anaerobic attack of the active material by water. As in other instances of corrosion,    this process can be retarded by cathodic protection. A cadmium negative is practically    immune against water, but in an incompletely sealed" It is known that the negative in alkaline nickel accumulators loses charge on   standing idle, the loss being of the order of 20 % per month in Ni-Fe cells 1 and 2-3 % per month in recent makes of Ni-Cd cells.2 In contrast to the lead- acid battery, no attention has yet been given to the corrosive mechanism causing self-discharge in the alkaline storage cell. In 1955 thogugh porous nickel plate (6-3 cm x 1.7 cm x 0.3 cni) made from low-density carbonyl powder by sintering in H2 at 950” C without compression. The pore volume of the plate was 85 % and the surface area was l-l*mz/g, as measured by the B.E.T. method. In one spiral and the negative. With a   70-cm nickel strip, the rate of self-discharge was about 1000 times as fast as in the absence of a water-line. This effect was also found in commercial Ni-Fe cells, the water-line being present round the rod supporting the negative. On separating the latter from the rod, and inserting a meter, an air junction current of 0.3-0-4 mA (in a 10 A h cell) was measurable. This current is large enough to account for t[sic] so nickel electrode needs to be submersed

also indicates that maybe id we pressurized the battery self discharge could be reduced but pressure might eb too high Also explains the main problem by far with self discharge in nife is that the iron reacts with the water

High energy density micro-fiber based nickel electrode for aerospace batteries LO

An iron—air vehicle battery

http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_PGzaO48Rz0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR4&dq=%22nickel-iron%22+battery+electrode&ots=WUrahYuzAm&sig=QjxT0uYcDvtejauBT0ClpFO9XZs#v=onepage&q=%22nickel-iron%22%20battery%20electrode&f=false

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Electrochem. Solid-State Lett. / Volume 4 / Issue 3 / BATTERIES AND ENERGY CONVERSION

Ceria-Supported Platinum as Hydrogen-Oxygen Recombinant Catalyst for Sealed Lead-Acid Batteries

Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., Volume 4, Issue 3, pp. A23-A26 (2001)

The influences of some additives on electrochemical behaviour of nickel electrodes might be interesting not clear

The effect of iron hydroxide on nickelous hydroxide electrodes with emphasis on the oxygen evolution reactionstar, open might be interesting since some particles will get in the nickel leectrode and eventually mix

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