Zinc deposition from alkaline zincate solution in single flow zinc/nickel battery has been investigated. The effect of different substrates such as copper, cadmium and lead were examined by using cyclic voltammetry and cathodic polarization technique. It was found that the cadmium substrate is better than the others. Zinc deposition was carried out by using galvanostatic technique, and the deposits were examined by SEM. The results demonstrated that there is no zinc dendrite on the cadmium substrate in flowing electrolyte. Coulombic and voltage efficiencies of 98 and 88%, respectively, are obtained in a small laboratory cell. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.