Alkaline Storage Battery

alkaline storage battery

[′al·kə‚līn ′stȯr·ij ‚bad·ə·rē]

(electricity)

A storage battery in which the electrolyte consists of an alkaline solution, usually potassium hydroxide.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Alkaline Storage Battery

 

an electrical accumulator in which the active mass of the negative electrode is a plate made of porous iron or cadmium; the positive electrode is a nickel body filled with nickel(III) oxide, and the electrolyte is a 20-percent solution of potassium hydroxide. The transformation of electrical energy into chemical energy (charging) and the reverse process (discharging) occur as a result of a reaction such as

The emf of an alkaline storage battery is 1.3 V. The specific capacity of such a battery is less than in a lead-acid storage battery, but it sustains overloads well and is insensitive to surplus charge and to strong discharge. Alkaline storage batteries are preferable for use under difficult conditions, for example, in power trucks and in the start-up of large diesel engines.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.