Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Voltage Transients of Magnesium/Manganese Dioxide Dry Cells in Absence of Anode-Film Breakdown.

The film-covered anode/solution interface plays a crucial role in determining the performance of high-energy primary batteries based on lithium, magnesium, aluminium, etc. The present study describes improvements over earlier attempts to analyze voltage transients of magnesium/manganese dioxide $(Mg/MnO_2)$ dry cells for the non-destructive evaluation of the electrochemical properties of the film-covered magnesium/solution interface. Equivalent-circuit analogs for the anode/solution interface are proposed and the most plausible set of models identified. The anode-film resistance and its temperature dependence are evaluated. The technique developed for $Mg/MnO_2$ cells can be extended, in principle, to other battery systems based on lithium, aluminium, calcium, etc., and can be exploited for quality control and design optimization of such cell