The Secondary Alkaline Zinc Electrode

Zinc is the most commonly used battery electrode, and zinc primary batteries have found numerous applications. The zinc electrode is electrochemically reversible in alkaline electrolytes, and there is a strong incentive to develop a practical secondary battery based on this metal. However, secondary batteries that use zinc electrodes typically exhibit short lifetimes, because of problems with zinc material redistribution and undesirable zinc morphologies that form during recharge. There has been a worldwide effort to develop a long‐lived secondary alkaline zinc electrode, and marked improvements in cell lifetimes have resulted. This article reviews these efforts, paying particular attention to research and development during the period 1975–1990.