ECS Meeting Abstracts, 4(MA2010-02), p. 284-284, 2010
The Electrochemical Society, ECS Transactions, 39(33), p. 213-220, 2011
DOI: 10.1149/1.3589930
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Commercial hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV) serve as means to reduce the nation's dependence on oil. Current electric vehicles use relatively heavy nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries. Li-ion rechargeable batteries have been developed extensively as the replacement; however, the high cost and safety concerns are still issues to be resolved before large-scale production. In this study, we propose a new highly conductive solid polymer electrolyte for Mg-Ni high electrochemical capacity batteries. The traditional corrosive alkaline aqueous electrolyte (KOH) is replaced with a dry polymer with conductivity on the order of 10² S/cm, as measured by impedance spectroscopy. Several potential novel polymer and polymer composite candidates are presented with the best-performing electrolyte results for full cell testing and cycling.