Long-life alkaline primary battery

Abstract

Abstract This invention relates to an alkaline primary battery of the type having a negative electrode containing cadmium or amalgamated zinc and a positive electrode containing monovalent silver oxide, mercuric oxide, or mixtures of these oxides with manganese dioxide, the positive electrode having an electrochemically active surface area facing the negative electrode. At positive electrodes, self-discharge can be caused by the solubility of the active material. It is an object of this invention to provide an improved alkaline primary battery designed to reduce this type of self-discharge, without impairing the internal resistance of the battery. To this end, in the alkaline primary battery the improvement comprises at least one electrically conductive, microporous, electrolyte-saturated, optically opaque filter-electrode which covers the entire active surface area of the positive electrode, contains either no monovalent silver oxide nor mercuric oxide or only a substantially smaller amount thereof per unit of volume than the positive electrode, contains electrically conductive material which is not corroded, oxidized, nor dissolved in alkali electrolytes at the given potential of the positive electrode, and is in electrical contact with the positive electrode.

Inventors

• 👤 Paul Ruetschi

Bibliographic Details