Positive electrode for alkaline storage battery

1. An alkaline storage battery comprising a positive electrode, wherein the positive electrode comprises a conductive base material and an active material layer attached to the conductive base material,

the active material layer comprises an active material and a binder,

the active material comprises a powder comprising nickel hydroxide,

the binder comprises an elastic copolymer and the binder is contained in an amount of 1 to 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the active material, and

the elastic copolymer comprises one or more tetrafluoroethylene units and one or more —CHCH 3 CH 2 units in a mole ratio of 3:7 to 7:3.

2. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 1 , wherein the elastic copolymer further comprises one or more olefin units other than a tetrafluoroethylene unit and a —CHCH 3 CH 2 unit.

3. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 2 , wherein at least one of the olefin units in the elastic copolymer is a fluorine atom-containing olefin unit.

4. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 3 , wherein a content of the fluorine atom-containing olefin unit in the elastic copolymer is 5 mole % or less.

5. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 3 , wherein the fluorine atom-containing olefin unit is a vinylidene fluoride unit.

6. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 1 , wherein the elastic copolymer has a glass transition temperature of 20° C. or lower.

7. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 1 , wherein the binder is able to absorb an alkaline aqueous solution of pH 13 or more in an amount of at most 3% by weight of the binder when the binder is stored for a week in the solution at 80° C.

8. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 1 , wherein the battery further comprises an aqueous electrolyte.

9. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 8 , wherein the aqueous electrolyte comprises an alkaline aqueous solution containing potassium hydroxide.

10. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 9 , wherein the alkaline aqueous solution has a specific gravity of about 1.3.

11. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 1 , further comprising a battery case having an aperture; an electrode assembly comprising the positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator; an aqueous alkaline electrolyte; and a sealing member for sealing the aperture of the battery case.

12. The alkaline storage battery according to claim 1 , wherein the active material comprises a powder comprising nickel hydroxide coated with cobalt hydroxide or cobalt oxyhydroxide.