Make a silver zinc battery

Question

I have a shaver that runs off a rechargeable battery that is dying. Would it be feasible to make a silver zinc battery and use it to replace the existing battery? Cost is not an object, anything less than $2500 I would consider doable. I have a machine shop and a small chemistry laboratory with the standard equipment and glassware, including high vacuum capability, a centrifuge and simple glass blowing capability.

I found a book on silver-oxide zinc chemistry and battery design, but it is $500 and I don't want to spend that if the information can be obtained just as easily elsewhere.

I have tried to find commercial options, but had no luck. Most silver zinc batteries seem to be just for large (multi-million dollar) military or satellite applications. Sony makes a line of silver oxide primary cells for hearing aids, but these are not rechargeable. There is a company called Ultralife that makes medical and military batteries and might have something viable, but before I call them I wanted to check out the opinion of the experts here.

Answer 1

This turns out to be very difficult to do for two reasons. One problem is that the voltage of a silver cell is different from that of Ni-Cd cell, so it would require a specialized, multi-cell configuration to emulate the voltage characteristics of the Ni-Cd rechargeables.

The other problem is that silver cells generally have a sophisticated frame inside of them that is produced by an intricate high-temperature welding process. To duplicate this process and produce a suitable frame would require a significant amount of experimentation and work.