It is very possible for the foam zinc materials to take the place of zinc powder and become a new ideal material of electrode for zinc-air battery, because of its excellent three dimensional reticulated structure, high porosity, high specific surface area and uniform quality, and was widely used in many other fields. A novel method for preparing very porous zinc foam was proposed, in which the polyurethane foam as substrate was processed by degreasing process, roughening process, activation, electroless plating and zinc electrodeposition. Then, experiments were carried out to explore the effects of the solution composition（concentration of ZnSO4）and the operation conditions （such as the interelectrode distance; current density, temperature, pH value of electroplating solution and so on) on the morphology of the foam zinc and the current efficiency. The optimum experimental conditions were determined by optimizing the factors. On these conditions the foam zinc presents a three-dimensional reticular structure with high porosity, and uniformity, and the outward appearance of the coating is bright.
The Effect of Manganese Ion Impurity on the Kinetics and Overvoltage of Zinc Electrodeposition from a Sulfate Solution.