Optimizing on the Negative Electrode of Ni/MH Power Battery by Orthogonal Design

Abstract

In this paper, the influences of different binders (Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC), Carboxymethyl Cellulose Sodium (CMC), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and Styrene- butadiene Rubber (SBR)) on high-rate discharge performances at low temperature for the negative electrode of Ni/MH battery have been studied by orthogonal experimental design. Electrochemical measurements have been conducted to investigate the capacity, charge-discharge performance, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance characteristics. The surface morphology and chemical compositions have been investigated by SEM and EDS. Based on the range analysis, the primary and secondary influence factors as well as the optimization results were obtained. From the CV characteristic curves, the oxidization peaks and reduction peaks are not clearly shown, which indicates that the redox reaction does not occur clearly after binders added. The EIS experiments show that the deterioration of the voltage characteristic of the battery is due to drying out of the separator that increases the ohmic resistance (Rs ), and the decay of the discharge capacity is due to the passivity surface that increases the charge-transfer resistance (Rt) of the battery.