Studies of alkaline solid polymer electrolyte and mechanically alloyed polycrystalline Mg2Ni for use in nickel metal hydride batteries

Ni-MH cells comprising PVA-KOH solid polymer electrolyte and mechanically alloyed Mg2Ni as the negative electrode have been fabricated. The alkaline solid polymer electrolyte with PVA:KOH wt.% ratio of 60:40 exhibits the highest room temperature ionic conductivity of 8.5×10-4 S cm-1. This sample is mostly amorphous. The cell was charged at a constant current of 10 mA and discharged at 0.1 mA. The discharge characteristics improved upon cycling and the plateau voltage maintained above 1.2 V for ∼10 h. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.