Nickel electrode for an alkaline storage cell

A storage cell comprising an alkaline electrolyte and a nickel electrode with a non-sintered support, wherein said electrode comprises a porous three-dimensional conductive structure and an electrochemically active material containing particles of a nickel-based hydroxide with a .beta. crystallographic structure, wherein said hydroxide satisfies at least one of the following criteria:

• an intensity ratio of the (103) line to the (200) line in an X-ray diffraction diagram generated under Cu(K.sub..alpha.) radiation conditions of the hydroxide of 1.05.+-.0.10;
• a coherence length L of 13.+-.3 nm, said coherence length L, having the formula:
• ##EQU4## where .PHI..sub.›100! is the crystallite size calculated from the mid-height width of the (100) line and .PHI..sub.›001! is the crystallite size calculated from the mid-height width of the (001) line of the X-ray diffraction diagram of said hydroxide;
• a ratio of the sum of the surface areas of the peaks at 3687.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 and 3600.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 to the surface area of the peak at 3580.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 in the Raman spectrum of said hydroxide of 0.11.+-.0.03;
• a ratio of the surface area of the peak at 511.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 to the surface area of the peak at 460.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 in the Raman spectrum of said hydroxide of 1.1.+-.0.1.

A battery of storage cells wherein each storage cell comprises an alkaline electrolyte and a nickel electrode with a non-sintered support, each of said nickel electrode comprising a porous three-dimensional conductive structure and an electrochemically active material containing particles of a nickel-based hydroxide with a .beta. crystallographic structure, wherein said hydroxide satisfies at least one of the following criteria:

• an intensity ratio of the (103) line to the (200) line in an X-ray diffraction diagram generated under Cu(K.sub..alpha.) radiation conditions of the hydroxide of 1.05.+-.0.10;
• a coherence length L of 13.+-.3 nm, said coherence length L, having the formula:
• ##EQU5## where .PHI..sub.›100! is the crystallite size calculated from the mid-height width of the (100) line and .PHI..sub.›001! is the crystallite size calculated from the mid-height width of the (001) line of the X-ray diffraction diagram of said hydroxide;
• a ratio of the sum of the surface areas of the peaks at 3687.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 and 3600.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 to the surface area of the peak at 3580.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 in the Raman spectrum of said hydroxide of 0.11.+-.0.03;
• a ratio of the surface area of the peak at 511.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 to the surface area of the peak at 460.+-.10 cm.sup.-1 in the Raman spectrum of said hydroxide of 1.1.+-.0.1.