The presence of dissolved cations such as Al and Zn in alkaline electrolyte (6 M KOH) suppresses the alpha --> beta-nickel hydroxide transformation. The uptake of Al (10 mol%) and Zn (30 mol%) exhibited by the active material likely stabilizes the alpha-phase. Dissolved Al is deleterious to the performance of the nickel hydroxide electrode, whereas, dissolved Zn enhances the specific discharge capacity of nickel hydroxide by approximately 25% showing that the mode of metal uptake is different in the two cases
