Silver-oxide Battery

Silver-oxide Battery

A silver oxide battery (IEC code: S) is a primary cell with relatively very high energy/weight ratio. Their cost is linked to the price of silver. They are available in either very small sizes as button cells where the amount of silver used is small and not a significant contributor to the overall product costs, or in large custom design batteries where the superior performance characteristics of the silver oxide chemistry outweigh cost considerations. The large cells found some applications with the military, for example in Mark 37 torpedoes or on Alfa class submarines. Spent batteries may be processed for their silver content.

Silver-oxide primary batteries account for over 20% of all primary battery sales in Japan (67,000 out of 232,000 in September 2012).

A related rechargeable device usually called a silver–zinc battery uses a variation of silver–zinc chemistry. It shares most of the pros and cons of a silver-oxide battery, in addition to being able to withstand the largest loads of all known secondary power sources. Long used in specialist applications, they are now geared to enter the mainstream markets, for example as laptop batteries.