Usefulness of microporous hydrophobic polypropylene membranes after plasma-induced graft polymerization of acrylic acid for high-power nickel–cadmium batteries

Commercial microporous polypropylene (PP) membranes were modified by plasma-induced graft polymerization of acrylic acid (AAc) under UV irradiation. Under optimized conditions obtained membranes are hydrophilic and may be serviceable as separator in nickel–cadmium cell. Electrolytic resistance of modified membranes is evaluated and compared with that of commercial separators: conventional cellophane separation and hydrophilic polypropylene separation (Celgard 3501). This paper reports the maximum power test data for nickel–cadmium cells equipped with different separators. Cells with modified PP membrane show very good high-rate performance.