Thin-film zinc/manganese dioxide electrodes based on microporous polymer foils

Thin-film electrodes allow manufacturing of flat batteries of variable design which can be used for the development of smaller electric appliances. Substituting the metal carrier by conductive plastics leads to a considerable reduction of battery weight. Usually the electroactive materials are deposited onto the surface of the carrier. A significant improvement of the originally poor adherence between polymer foil and electroactive layers can be achieved by mechanical (surface roughening) or chemical (etching) pretreatment. Another way to form extremely thin electrodes having a thickness in the range of some ten micrometers is reported here. First, a metallic layer is deposited onto one surface of a 25 μm thin porous polypropylene foil. Subsequently, the electroactive materials are electrolytically deposited into the pores of the metallized foil providing the required conductive connection through the plastic matrix by themselves. In this case the flexibility of the polymer has a positive influence on the problem of volume change of manganese dioxide during charging and discharging, respectively, because the plastic provides flexible 'mechanical struts' which act as a 'binder' and therefore prevent increasing internal resistance due to contact problems. Assembling a zinc filled polymer and a manganese dioxide filled one in such a way that both metallic back-layers are in contact, a thin bipolar zinc/manganese dioxide electrode can be obtained.