NiMH batteries are available in everything from hybrid cars to electric toothbrushes and are both safer and more environmentally friendly than lithium batteries that are also used in many products. Researchers from Stockholm University in Sweden have now created a method that significantly improves the usability of rechargeable NiMH batteries.
The method recycles 95% of old batteries and is simpler than previous methods. The new batteries manufactured with recycled materials will also get better performance.
NiMH batteries contain rare materials that are expensive to process but the new method simplifies the processing and thus gives even cheaper batteries.
When the battery cells are manufactured, they must be activated. During this they undergo a number of cautious charge and discharge cycles according to a special schedule. That procedure largely disappears with the new method.
“It can be compared to the run-in period that previously newly purchased cars had to go through when they had just been delivered from the factory. The formation of the batteries is done at the battery factory. It requires time and investment in equipment. Much of this can now be saved by using already activated material. ” This says Dag Noréus, professor at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University and one of the researchers behind the study.
Here you can read the entire study.