Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries
The successor to nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries (or NiMH batteries) use a hydrogen-absorbing alloy instead of the cadmium used in their predecessors. The first nickel-metal hydride batteries were developed in the late 1980’s as variations of high-grade nickel-hydrogen batteries (used most famously in the International Space Station and the Hubble Space telescope), with the aim of bringing the low discharge rate of such batteries to the consumer sphere. Nickel-metal hydride batteries are relatively new power sources for cell phones, but are rapidly emerging as a strong rival to the dominance of lithium-ion batteries.
The environmental credentials of nickel-metal hydride batteries have been a strong pull factor for their use by environmentally conscious corporations like cell phone makers Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Nickel-metal hydride batteries do away with the toxic cadmium of older nickel-cadmium batteries, making for easier and safer disposal. In fact, most nickel out of nickel-metal hydride batteries is extracted and recycled at the end of each battery’s life, in order to minimize the costs of purchasing new nickel (a notoriously expensive metal to mine).
In terms of efficiency and charge, nickel-metal hydride batteries have a higher energy density than nickel-cadmium, but a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries. However, the life of nickel-metal hydride batteries is substantially longer than that of lithium-ion batteries, and nickel-metal hydride cells are much cheaper than both other main cell phone battery technologies (in part thanks to the recycling of nickel involved). Nickel-metal hydride batteries are gaining in popularity with cell phone companies, with many models now switching to the technology. The batteries are expected to eventually match lithium-ion in terms of power output at a far lower cost.
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Tags: batteries, battery, ni-mh, nickel-metal hydride, nimh