Nickel-cadmium flow battery

For poorly informed system designers, the knowledge of batteries is limited and they often easily decide on a standard choice such as lead–acid battery or a newly very popular lithium–ion battery. However, nickel–cadmium batteries are very attractive for many applications and their performance makes them superior for many conditions.

In this chapter, the principle of operation of nickel–cadmium batteries, their charge–discharge cycles, processes in the overcharge phase, self-discharge, memory effect, and failure modes are explained. Batteries using nickel negative electrodes are commonly called nickel-based batteries or simply nickel batteries.

Nickel–cadmium batteries were invented at the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century and since that time have been a popular battery choice for many applications, in particular when high current or a high number of cycles is needed for an application. In...

Batteries using nickel negative electrodes are commonly called nickel-based batteries or simply nickel batteries. The first commercial battery system based on nickel electrode was nickel–cadmium, invented in 1899.

The most common failure modes in nickel–cadmium batteries are electrical shorts caused by the growth of cadmium dendrites and penetration through the separator, passivation, and wear of active materials, destruction of the separator, and swelling of positive active mass.

A useful procedure to maintain full capacity of nickel–cadmium batteries at all times is to use trickle charge simply to offset the self-discharge rate and keep the battery fully charged. If this is not possible, a battery should be stored in cool conditions.