The Electro-deposition Properties Of Zn-In Alloy And Its Application In High-energy Alkaline Manganese Batteries

Zinc acts as negative material of zinc manganese dioxide batteries, with the advantages of low cost, little poison and easy treatment. In another way, as the material of batteries, zinc electrode has many problems, such as dendrite growth, shape-changing, passivation, corrosion and so on. At present, the main way to solve these problems is to add mercury and its oxide to zinc electrode. But mercury is poisonous and makes the environment polluted. All countries of the world have made out treasurements to control the amount of mercury. With the increasing rate of the alkaline battery production year by year, mercury-free alkaline zinc manganese dioxide battery is the leading direction of the development of zinc manganese dioxide batteries. The varies battery corporations work hard to improve the battery performances including techniques material and equipment. The production of mercury-free alkaline zinc manganese dioxide battery is a system technology. The surface treatment of the current collector is one of the key facts that affect the electrical performance of the battery. In this paper, we focus on the substitution for mercury. The In or Zn-In alloy was electroplated on the surface of the copper current collector. The physical and chemical properties of the current collector were studied. The discharging experiment of the batteries was done. The main experiments and their results are as following:1. The experiment was designed to determine the optimal plating conditions of Zn, In and Zn-In alloy from a sulfate bath. The method about Zn-In alloy has not been reported on reference. The experiment about the effect of the factor (the concentration of the component hi the sulfate bath, pH, current density, etc.) on the properties of the alloy presented that the hi content increased significantly with the increasing pH.2. The results showed that the process of Zn-In alloy belonged to anomalous co-deposition. The electrochemical behaviors of Zn-In alloy were studied ascathode electrode by means of polarization curves, CV curves, E-logic curves and kinetic parameters of hydrogen evolution. These results were compared with other kinds of electrodes. The experiments showed that the electroplated In or Zn-In alloy electrode had high hydrogen over-potential and well electrochemical stability. 3. Discharging experiment proved that mercury-free alkaline zinc manganese dioxide battery can be assembled by the current collector treated by electroplating mono-layer In or Zn-In alloy. The properties of the battery surpassed the properties of the LR6 alkaline zinc manganese dioxide battery according to the standard of industry requirement of GB/T7112-1998.