A Facile Route for the Preparation of Calcium Zincate and its Application in Ni-Zn Batteries

Calcium zincate microcrystals are successfully prepared with calcium carbonate and zinc oxide as reactants in alkaline solution without protective atmosphere. The structure and composition are analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis, thermodiffractometry, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Electrochemical measurement results prove that the as-synthesized calcium zincate exhibits a good reversibility, a high specific capacity and a good cycling stability. This is a cheap and facile way to synthesize calcium zincate materials which may benefit for mass production of calcium zincate. (C) 2014 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.