Electrosynthesis of layered double hydroxides of nickel with trivalent cations

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of nickel with aluminium, chromium, manganese and iron, with the same structure as α-nickel hydroxide, have been electrosynthesized. This paves the way for their possible electrochemical impregnation in sintered nickel plaques for use as electrodes in nickel/cadmium batteries. All these LDHs stabilize the α-nickel hydroxide structure in alkaline media and retain electrochemical activity, as evidenced by cyclic voltammetric studies. The nickel-aluminium LDH shows the highest coulombic efficiency, while the nickel-iron LDH may prove to be unsuitable as a battery electrode material as it catalyzes oxygen evolution by 50 mV, as compared with pure nickel hydroxide. © 1994