Patent ID: 8080336

Claim:
An alkaline dry battery comprising: a positive electrode including at least one of a manganese dioxide powder and a nickel oxyhydroxide powder; a negative electrode including a zinc alloy powder; a separator interposed between said positive electrode and said negative electrode; an alkaline electrolyte; and a battery case for housing said positive electrode, said negative electrode, said separator, and said alkaline electrolyte, said battery case comprising a metal case composed mainly of iron and a nickel-containing layer formed on an inner face of said metal case, wherein said negative electrode further includes a surfactant that adsorbs to a surface of said zinc alloy powder during a non-discharge period and promptly desorbs from the surface of said zinc alloy powder upon start of discharge without impeding ion transfer in said alkaline electrolyte, said surfactant satisfies one of the following conditions (A), (B), and (A′): (A) said surfactant has a phosphate group as a hydrophilic group, no polyoxyalkylene group, and at least one hydrocarbon group as a hydrophobic group in the molecule thereof, and the total number of carbon atoms in said at least one hydrocarbon group is 1 to 6; (B) said surfactant has a phosphate group and a polyoxyalkylene group as hydrophilic groups and at least one hydrocarbon group as a hydrophobic group in the molecule thereof, the total number of carbon atoms in said at least one hydrocarbon group is 1 to 4, and said hydrocarbon group and said polyoxyalkylene group are bonded via an oxygen atom; and (A′) said surfactant has a structure represented by general formula (3), General formula (3): in formula (3), R 5 is a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, and each of X and Y is independently H, Na or K.