Elsevier

Journal of Power Sources

Volume 91, Issue 1, November 2000, Pages 77-82
Journal of Power Sources

Silver based batteries for high power applications

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7753(00)00489-4Get rights and content

Abstract

The present status of silver oxide–zinc technology and applications has been described by Karpinski et al. [A.P. Karpinski, B. Makovetski, S.J. Russell, J.R. Serenyi, D.C. Williams, Silver-Zinc: status of technology and applications, Journal of Power Sources, 80 (1999) 53–60], where the silver–zinc couple is still the preferred choice where high specific energy/energy density, coupled with high specific power/power density are important for high-rate, weight or size/configuration sensitive applications.

Perhaps the silver oxide cathode can be considered one of the most versatile electrode materials. When coupled with other anodes and corresponding electrolyte management system, the silver electrode provides for a wide array of electrochemical systems that can be tailored to meet the most demanding, high power requirements. Besides zinc, the most notable include cadmium, iron, metal hydride, and hydrogen electrode for secondary systems, while primary systems include lithium and aluminum. Alloys including silver are also available, such as silver chloride, which when coupled with magnesium or aluminum are primarily used in many seawater applications.

The selection and use of these couples is normally the result of a trade-off of many factors. These include performance, safety, risk, reliability, and cost. When high power is required, silver oxide–zinc, silver oxide–aluminum, and silver oxide–lithium are the most energetic. For moderate performance (i.e., lower power), silver oxide–zinc or silver–cadmium would be the system of choice.

This paper summarizes the suitability of the silver-based couples, with an emphasis on the silver–zinc system, as primary or rechargeable power sources for high energy/power applications.

Section snippets

Background

A capacitor stores energy in an electric field. In contrast, a battery stores energy in the chemical reagents formed during the charging process. Upon discharge these chemicals then react to produce an electric current. The resistance of the electrolyte initially controls the rate of discharge of a storage battery. As the surface energy is depleted, discharge rates become dependent on chemistry and ion diffusion within the active layer. For thin cell batteries with properly formed active

Results and discussion

Over the years, special high rate, short duration tests were conducted on various standard Yardney high rate cells. Although some of these were short circuit tests, where the voltage drops to near 0 V, the peak power current can be calculated from the short circuit current. Assuming that the relation between voltage and current is linear, the peak power current is exactly one half of the short circuit current. For example, two parallel banks of Yardney model HR140DC cells, normally used for

Conclusion

For more than 50 years, primary and secondary silver–zinc batteries have attracted a variety of applications due to their high specific energy/energy density, demonstrated reliability, safety, and the highest power output per unit weight and volume of all commercially available batteries. There are a number of other secondary electrochemical systems that someday could provide power densities that are comparable to the silver-based couples such as the lithium-based systems (i.e., lithium-ion).

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