Determination of ionic conductivity and its impact on proton diffusion model for nickel hydroxide.
The ionic conductivity is an important but previously ignored aspect for the nickel hydroxide used in alkaline batteries. With a specially designed device, the ionic conductivity is determined for single beads of spherical nickel hydroxide in KOH solutions. The apparent ionic conductivity is found on the order of 10(-3)-10(-2) S cm-1 in 6 M KOH and to change with the conductivity of the solution in which the bead is immersed. The ionic conductivity of the bead can be mainly attributed to the electrolyte absorbed in the bead. On the basis of these findings, the dual structure model for proton diffusion in spherical nickel hydroxide is refined by specifying nanoparticles to be the component showing a large apparent proton diffusion coefficient (on the order of 10(-7) cm2 s-1). This refined model is able to interpret the main features of the diffusion coefficients reported in the literature, including the unusually large scattering (up to 6 orders of magnitude) and inconsistency in the dependence of proton diffusion coefficient on the state of the charge. Besides, this refined model is supported by the influence of bulk KOH concentration on chronoamperometry and transmission electron microscopy observations.
Xiao
Liang
L
Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Lu
Juntao
J
Liu
Peifang
P
Zhuang
Lin
L