Dynamic monitoring of structural changes in nickel hydroxide electrodes during discharge in batteries

The nickel hydroxide electrode is used as the positive plate of many rechargeable battery systems such as the nickel/cadmium, nickel/hydrogen, and nickel/metal hydrides. The electrochemical energy storage in the nickel hydroxide electrodes is related to the reversible characteristics of the redox couple nickel hydroxide/ox hydroxide. In the present work we describe the use of the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique as a tool to characterize the dynamic behaviour of nickel hydroxide electrodes at different states of discharge (SOD) in KOH 7 M electrolytic solutions. The parameter identification procedure allows the estimation of the active area per unit volume, the solution conductivity as well as diffusion and kinetic constants related to the process, that represent very important parameters to evaluate the electrode performance.