Nickel-cadmium batteries have the following characteristics:
High cycle life: Nickel-cadmium battery has a high cycle life of charge and discharge, usually up to thousands of charge cycles.
Stable voltage output: Nickel-cadmium battery provides relatively stable voltage output during discharge, which is suitable for applications that need stable voltage for a long time.
Good charging performance: Nickel-cadmium battery has good charging performance and can be fully charged in a short time.
Good high temperature resistance: Nickel-cadmium battery has good high temperature resistance and is suitable for high temperature environment.
Higher energy density: Compared with other rechargeable batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries have higher energy density and can provide longer service life.
However, nickel-cadmium batteries also have some disadvantages:
Memory effect: If incomplete charge and discharge cycles are carried out frequently, the memory effect may occur in Ni-Cd battery, resulting in the decrease of available capacity.
Chemical toxicity: Cadmium in nickel-cadmium battery is a toxic substance, which may cause harm to the environment and human health if it is not handled properly.
Low specific energy: Compared with some new batteries, the specific energy of nickel-cadmium batteries is relatively low, which limits its application in specific fields.
Due to environmental and health risks and the limitation of energy density, nickel-cadmium batteries have been used by other types of rechargeable batteries in many applications, such as lithium-ion batteries and nickel-hydrogen batteries.