The Cadmium-Nickel Storage Battery

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Abstract
The cadmium‐nickel battery is widely used in Europe but not in America. It is particularly applicable to severe service conditions since the active material does not shed readily and wide temperature fluctuations have but little effect. The active material of the positive plates is nickel hydroxide plus pure crystalline graphite. In place of graphite, metallic nickel flakes may be used. The active material of the negative plates is cadmium oxide or hydroxide. The effect of the presence of iron in the cadmium paste is discussed at length. Similarly the addition of lithium hydroxide to the KOH electrolyte is treated at length. On the basis of the author's experiments, the lithium appears superfluous in positive electrodes containing graphite except that it counteracts the deleterious effects of traces of iron. The adsorption of CO2 by the KOH electrolyte reduces the capacity of the battery, due to cadmium carbonate formation on the surface of the CdO grains. The new starting battery has very thin plates and very close spacing. It is replacing the lead storage battery in trucks and buses.

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