Even though Zn/air energy system is considered to be a promising power energy source, it has been limited to be applied for an electrically rechargeable system basically due to the problem of the irreversible reaction and the corrosion reaction. In this paper a novel attempt has been made to compare the behavior of zinc electrode with a zinc oxide electrode and a modified zinc oxide electrode containing zinc oxide and lead oxide. The hydrogen overpotential is favorable in the zinc electrode, and the modified zinc oxide electrode shows the improved properties showing the more negative potential than the case of the zinc oxide electrode. Investigations of cyclic voltammogram reveal that the pure zinc electrode is irreversible, while both the zinc oxide and the modified zinc oxide electrodes are reversible. However, as far as dendrite formation is concerned there is no marked improvement in case of the zinc oxide and the modified zinc oxide electrodes. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.