A quick sniff over at will give you plenty of info, but here's a quick summary.
The chemically active components are:
Anode: High purity zinc powder
The anode material of the alkaline cell is a powdered zinc metal. Manufacturing of the zinc powder is carefully controlled to ensure chemical purity and correct particle size, resulting in good surface area available during the cell reaction. This increased surface area provides greater particle to particle contact within the anode, thereby lowering the cell’s internal resistance, generating higher power density.
Cathode: Electrolytically produced manganese dioxide
The cathode material of the cell is a powdered manganese dioxide (MnO2), produced synthetically through an electrolytic process. Its purity and oxygen availability are far superior to the natural material. This contributes to the cell’s increased energy density and performance.
Additives are used in the major cathode components to enhance performance capability. For example, graphite is mixed with the manganese dioxide to improve conductivity. When mixed with the other ingredients, the electrolytic manganese dioxide provides a cathode of excellent conductivity to assure good cell performance over a wide range of temperatures and discharge rates.
Electrolyte: Concentrated potassium hydroxide solution
The electrolyte consists of a concentrated aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH) to which zinc oxide is added to retard corrosion of the zinc. This inhibits the dissolution of the zinc anode and extends the shelf life. In some cell designs, a gel-type electrolyte is formed by the addition of a gelling agent.
This electrolyte is alkaline (basic) in contrast to the electrolyte of regular zinc-carbon cells, which is acidic. The concentrated potassium hydroxide solution offers high ionic mobility with a low freezing point.Statistics: Posted by golden_guppy — Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:36 pm
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