Effects of conductive ceramic on the electrochemical performance of ZnO for Ni/Zn rechargeable battery

A novel ZnO/conductive-ceramic nanocomposite was prepared by a homogeneous precipitation method. The conductive ceramic with the nominal chemical composition of (ZnO)0.92(Bi2O3)0.054(Co2O3)0.025(Nb2O5)0.00075(Y2O3)0.00025, as the nucleation sites of ZnO, was prepared by ball milling and surface modification process and its effects on electrochemical performance of ZnO were investigated by charge/discharge cycling, slow rate cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Compared with pure ZnO, the ZnO/conductive-ceramic electrode exhibited improved electrochemical properties, such as superior cycle stability, higher discharge capacity and utilization ratio. When the conductive ceramic content reached 14 wt.%, the discharge capacity of the ZnO/conductive-ceramic nanocomposite hardly declined over 50 cycling test, the average utilization ratio could reach 99.5%, and the electrodes had no obvious weight loss after cycling tests.