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US 6,555,266 B1Granted
Alkaline cell with improved casing
AssigneeThe Gillette Company
InventorsDouglas J. Woodnorth, Barbara Brys
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AssigneeThe Gillette Company
InventorsDouglas J. Woodnorth, Barbara Brys
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to electrochemical cells having a metal current collector, particularly zinc/MnO2 primary alkaline cells wherein the cathode metal current collector is the cell's steel casing. The present invention is directed to a coating on the current collector, such as the inside surface of the steel casing of an alkaline cell, to improve the cell's performance, particularly when it is used for high power applications. In accordance with the invention the current collector or inside surface of the steel casing for the cell, is preferably preplated with nickel, then plated with a layer of cobalt or cobalt alloy, and subsequently coated with a layer of carbon over the cobalt layer. The carbon may be applied from a carbon/solvent coating mixture which is dried to evaporate the solvent carrier. The service life of the cell is improved, particularly during high power applications.
An alkaline electrochemical cell comprising a cylindrical steel casing housing the contents of said cell, a positive and a negative terminal, an anode comprising zinc, a cathode comprising manganese dioxide, and aqueous alkaline electrolyte solution, wherein the inside surface of said steel casing is preplated with a layer of nickel, said steel casing being coated on the inside surface with a coating comprising a layer comprising cobalt and a layer comprising carbon, wherein said layer comprising cobalt is applied over said nickel layer and the layer comprising carbon is applied over said cobalt layer.
In an electrochemical cell comprising a metal casing housing the contents of said cell, a positive and a negative terminal, an anode and a cathode, wherein one of said anode and cathode is in physical contact with a metal current collector, the improvement comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.