Copper Oxide Cell

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 It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Copper Oxide Cell

 

a chemical current source of comparatively high power, in which the positive electrode consists of a platelike porous cake made of copper oxide (sometimes of powdered copper and its oxide) and a binder, and the negative electrode is made of zinc amalgam or a zinc-mercury alloy. The most widely used electrolyte is a solution of caustic soda (NaOH). The electromotive force of copper oxide cells is 0.88-0.96 volts (V); discharge voltage, 0.7-0.5 V; specific power, 25-35 watt-hr per kg. Copper oxide cells are used mainly in railroad signaling and communications installations and in automatic telephone exchanges.

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