文摘
Nickel hydroxide with a unique mixed phase α/β-Ni(OH)2 was prepared by partially substituting Ca2+ for Ni2+ with supersonic co-precipitating method firstly. The crystal structure and morphology of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the Ca-substituted Ni(OH)2 by adding PO4 3?/sup> is α/β mixed phase, while the undoped Ni(OH)2 and the Ca-substituted Ni(OH)2 without adding PO4 3?/sup> are pure β phase. Furthermore, the Ca-substituted Ni(OH)2 by adding PO4 3?/sup> exhibits irregular shape and contains many intercalated water molecules and anions as proven by SEM and FT-IR. Meanwhile, the prepared samples were added into micro-sized beta nickel hydroxide to form biphase electrode materials for Ni-MH battery. The electrochemical performances of the biphase electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and charge/discharge tests. The results demonstrate that the biphase electrode with mixed phase α/β-Ni(OH)2 exhibits higher electrochemical activity, better electrochemical reversibility and charge efficient, higher discharge potential, and better cyclic stability. The specific discharge capacity of Ca-substituted α/β-Ni(OH)2 electrode can retain 271.7 and 238 mAh/g after 80 cycles at 0.2 and 0.5 C, respectively. This indicates that it may be a promising positive active material for alkaline secondary batteries. The results reported in this work may be useful for the designing and synthesizing of nickel hydroxide materials with superior performance. Keywords Nickel hydroxide Ca-substituted Crystal structure Electrochemical performance