Patent ID: 8703336

Claim:
A method of making a pre-discharged primary alkaline battery, comprising: (a) partially discharging an assembled primary alkaline battery at a constant current discharge rate from 5 mA/g to 100 mA/g of active material, the partially discharging of the assembled primary alkaline battery being completed within about one hour after assembly of the primary alkaline battery is completed to result in a partially discharged primary alkaline battery; (b) maintaining the partially discharged primary alkaline battery for a period of time ranging from 1 to 24 hours at a temperature in the range of 25 to 70° C. to result in a pre-discharged primary alkaline battery; wherein the pre-discharged primary alkaline battery has an open circuit voltage value of less than or equal to 1.75 V at 25° C. and said pre-discharged primary alkaline battery comprises: a cathode comprising an oxide having a formula A x Ni 1-y-z-x Co y M a z M b w O 2 ; an anode; a separator between the cathode and the anode; and an alkaline electrolyte, wherein A is an alkali metal; M a is a metal dopant, the metal dopant comprising Co, Mg, Al, Co, Mn, or Y; M b is a non-metal dopant, the non-metal dopant comprising B, Si, or Ge; 0≦x≦0.2. w is 0, or 0≦w≦0.02; and 0.02≦y+z≦0.25.