Alkaline storage batteries

Alkaline storage batteries may be defined as electrically rechargeable batteries using an alkaline electrolyte generally consisting of a solution of potassium hydroxide. The advantages of an alkaline electrolyte instead of an acid in a storage battery were first perceived by the Swedish inventor Waldemar Jungner in the early 1890s. He realised that using an alkaline electrolyte would make it possible to charge and discharge electrodes under a simple transport of oxygen or hydroxyl ion from one electrode to the other without changing the composition or bulk density of the electrolyte. This would mean that a smaller amount of electrolyte could be used, that the risks for freezing of the electrolyte would be diminished, and, furthermore, that metals could be employed which would be completely inert in the electrolyte. Jungner stated that accumulators based on alkaline electrolytes would be light and mechanically strong and that they would have low stand losses on open circuit.