Increasing NiMH battery cycle life with oxygen

Abstract

Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries (NiMH) have long cycle life. But in the end corrosion of the metal hydride is detrimental for life expectancy. Corrosion reduces the metal hydride capacity, but more severely it consumes water in the electrolyte resulting in increased internal resistance, which is the main cause for cell failure.The corrosion, further, evolves hydrogen, causing an unbalance between anode and cathode, leading to premature internal pressure increase when the cells are approaching end of charge. This accelerates the drying out, if the cells vent through the safety valve.In this study, a controlled addition of oxygen was used to rebalance the electrodes and replenish the electrolyte – as the added oxygen reacts with hydrogen that was formed during the corrosion process. Thus, the two most detrimental factors in cell ageing can be mitigated. To fully restore the electrolyte content as well as electrode balance, both oxygen and hydrogen are needed to compensate for the loss to hydroxide ions OH− formed in the corrosion process. A proper optimization of the gas additions combined with a cell design including an excess amount of MH-alloy to compensate for the corrosion can substantially increase the cycle life of NiMH batteries.