A secondary battery according to an embodiment includes a cathode, an anode, and an alkaline aqueous solution. The cathode has an active material containing a nickel compound. The alkaline aqueous solution is in contact with the cathode and the anode. The product of a valence and a molar amount per 1 dm.sup.3 of complex ions is −2.0 or less.

An alkaline dry battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and an electrolyte, and the negative electrode includes a negative electrode active material containing zinc, a compound A having a P—O bond, and terephthalic acid. The molar ratio of the compound A to the terephthalic acid is 0.025 or more and 2.5 or less.

In an aspect, provided is an alkaline rechargeable battery comprising: i) a battery container sealed against the release of gas up to at least a threshold gas pressure, ii) a volume of an aqueous alkaline electrolyte at least partially filling the container to an electrolyte level; iii) a positive electrode containing positive active material and at least partially submerged in the electrolyte; iv) an iron negative electrode at least partially submerged in the electrolyte, the iron negative electrode comprising iron active material; v) a separator at least partially submerged in the electrolyte provided between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; vi) an auxiliary oxygen gas recombination electrode electrically connected to the iron negative electrode by a first electronic component, ionically connected to the electrolyte by a first ionic pathway, and exposed to a gas headspace above the electrolyte level by a first gas pathway.

The invention relates to the field of alkaline electrochemical cells and more specifically to that of batteries. More specifically, the invention pertains to a secondary electrochemical cell with a zinc electrode, which is differentiated in that it comprises: a) an electrolyte which is an alkaline aqueous solution whose molarity is between 4 M and 15 M hydroxyl anions, comprising soluble silicates whose concentration expressed as silica (SiO.sub.2) is between 0.15 g/l and 80 g/l; and b) a zinc electrode containing a conductive ceramic at least partly consisting of hafnium nitride and/or carbide and/or magnesium carbide and/or nitride and/or silicide and/or niobium carbide and/or nitride and/or titanium carbide and/or nitride and/or silicide and/or vanadium nitride acid/or of double carbides and/or nitrides of any two metals selected among hafnium, magnesium, niobium, titanium and vanadium.

Provided herein is a battery and an electrode. The battery may include two electrodes; and an electrolyte, wherein at least one electrode further includes: a nano-scale coated network, which includes one or more first carbon nanotubes electrically connected to one or more second carbon nanotubes to form a nano-scale network, wherein at least one of the one or more second carbon nanotubes is in electrical contact with another of the one or more second carbon nanotubes. The battery may further include an active material coating distributed to cover portions of the one or more first carbon nanotubes and portions of the one or more second carbon nanotubes, wherein a plurality of the one or more second carbon nanotubes are in electrical communication with other second carbon nanotubes under the active material coating. Also provided herein is a method of making a battery and an electrode.

Provided is a high quality and high performance nickel-iron battery comprising an iron electrode which is prepared by a continuous process. The process comprises preparing a formulation comprising an iron active material and a binder, and continuously coating a continuous substrate material on at least one side with the formulation. The coated continuous substrate material is dried, compacted and blanked. In one embodiment, the iron electrode comprises a PVA binder.

An anode for a secondary battery includes: a charge collector; and an anode composite layer formed on the charge collector, and containing an active material and an ion scavenger. The ion scavenger contains a phosphate of zirconium, and has a cation exchange capability and an anion exchange capability.

Provided is a Ni—Fe battery comprising a high quality, high performance iron electrode. In one embodiment the iron electrode comprises a polyvinyl alcohol binder. The iron electrode of the Ni—Fe battery comprises a single conductive substrate coated on one or both sides with an iron active material.

The present invention provides a zinc battery anode that includes a first layer of zinc foil. An electroplated zinc seed layer is formed on the first layer of zinc foil, the electroplated zinc seed layer having a thickness in a range of 0.01 to 2 microns. The invention further provides a method for forming a seed layer on a zinc battery anode. In the process, the zinc seed layer is deposited on a zinc foil battery anode by electrochemical deposition from a zinc ion-containing solution at a current density of approximately 20 mA cm.sup.−2 to 100 mA cm.sup.−2 to form a uniform and dense seed layer. Through use of a seed layer on the zinc anode, dendrite formation is prevented and long battery life is demonstrated.

An alkaline dry battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and an alkaline electrolytic solution contained in the positive electrode, the negative electrode and the separator. The negative electrode includes a negative electrode active material including zinc, and an additive. The additive includes at least one selected from the group consisting of maleic acid, maleic anhydride and maleate salts.