The first Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries of commercial grade entered markets in 1989. They were an offshoot of Nickel-Hydrogen batteries, in the sense they also used nickel and a hydrogen-based counterpart. There were several significant reasons for their remarkable take–up, as we share in this short post.
Advantages of Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries
The first Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries set the theme for future developments. They tended to last longer than Nickel Cadmium ones, and the gap widened thanks to more research and development. Also, their components were more environmentally friendly than cadmium, which may enter the human body and cause harm.
How Nickel-Hydride Technology Came About
The Nickel-Metal Hydride school of thought emerged in 1967, a few years before related Nickel-Hydrogen technology became feasible. Work began at Battelle-Geneva Research Center, a non-profit science and technology initiative in Columbus, Ohio.
Scientists sponsored by Daimler-Benz and Volkswagen AG investigated aggregated nickel-titanium, and nickel-oxide-hydrogen electrodes. They produced batteries with specific energy reaching 50 watt-hours per kilogram (with specific power up to 1000 watts per kilogram).
Moreover, these could manage 500 charge cycles at 100% depth of discharge. The scientists filed patents in Switzerland, United States, and Japan. In due course those proprietary rights transferred to Daimler Benz.
Commercialization of Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries
Development was slow through to the 1970’s, when NASA began experimenting with Nickel-Metal Hydrogen for satellite batteries. This spurred new interest in less bulky Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries for consumer applications.
Research began anew at Phillips Laboratories, CNRS in France, and Willems and Buschow. In 1987, Buschow successfully demonstrated high-energy hybrid alloys incorporating rare-earth metals for negative electrodes.
More economically-viable alloys followed, enabling the first consumer-grade NiMH cells in 1989. Massive commercialization followed usurping Nickel-Cadmium’s market grip, and opening up a whole new world of portable devices.
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