Patent ID: 7273537

Claim:
A method of producing zinc particles having low superficial density and high surface area, suitable for use in metal/air fuel cells, comprising: containing a solution including dissolved zinc; maintaining the solution at a temperature between about 0 and about 100 degrees Centigrade; immersing an anode at least partly in the solution; immersing a cathode at least partly in the solution, the cathode having a plurality of active zones separated from each other by an insulator, each active zone having an area less than about 0.04 square mm, said active zones electrically coupled to a conductor and spaced apart by less than about 2.0 mm; maintaining turbulent flow of the solution past one or more of the active zones; applying an electric potential across the anode and cathode sufficient to grow a plurality of lobes of the zinc at each active zone; and ceasing growth of the zinc lobes when the plurality of lobes at each active zone bond together to form a multi-lobed particle, wherein the particle at each active zone is grown initially from lobes.