Preliminary study of single flow zinc–nickel battery

A novel redox flow battery–single flow Zn/NiOOH battery is proposed. The electrolyte of this battery for both negative electrode and positive electrode is high concentration solutions of ZnO in aqueous KOH, the negative electrode is inert metal such as nickel foil, and the positive electrode is nickel oxide for secondary alkaline batteries. Typically, there is no requirement for a membrane in the battery. Ni(OH)2 is oxidized to NiOOH at positive electrode and the zincate ions is reduced to zinc and electroplated onto the negative electrode during charge. The reverse occurs during discharge. Results obtained with a small laboratory cell show that high efficiencies can be achieved with an average coulombic efficiency of 96% and energy efficiency of 86% over 1000 cycles. High performance obtained indicates that the single flow zinc/nickel battery is a promising battery.