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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
A novel electrode material for Ni metal hydride batteries, composed of electrochemically synthesized, Ni-rich oxide nanowires, was investigated in this study. The nanowires, grown on Alloy 600 in a high-temperature, high-pressure aqueous electrolyte, are typically 25nm in diameter and 5-10um long. Cyclic voltammetry, with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) suggests that anodic polarization of the wires converts Ni2+ species to Ni3+, present as γ–-NiOOH, the chemical phase involved in the charge/discharge reaction in Ni-MH batteries. The reversibility of the reaction was confirmed via multiple polarization cycles and SEM imaging. In addition, the current density and polarization behavior of the nanowires in 0.01M KOH solution is compared to that of planar NiO and Alloy 600. Results suggest that the nanowires, due to their higher surface area, achieves at least 10 times the current density (for a given apparent area) of the non-nanowire samples.