U3A Science & Technology

All about Batteries

John Wells

25th October 2011

A massive diversity of “dry” batteries

Alkaline manganese

Zinc-air

Lithium

Silver oxide 10P

Rechargeable batteries

Nickel-metal hydride or NiMh

Nickel-cadmium or NiCad

Lithium ion polymer Lithium-ion

Zinc-carbon

Innumerable shapes and sizes of “button” cells

What is a battery?

A battery consists of MORE THAN ONE cells

So what is a cell?

An electrochemical cell is a device capable of

either deriving electrical energy from chemical

reactions, or facilitating chemical reactions

through the introduction of electrical energy.

1st definition

A vessel containing various chemicals which

produce electricity as a result of the reactions

taking place between these chemicals.

2nd definition

Who invented the very first cell?

Count Allesandro Giuseppe Anastasio Volta is the man who gave us the word volt, our unit for electrical pressure of electromotive force (EMF). In 1789 he took a rods of copper and zinc and immersed them both in an acetic acid solution. He had just constructed the first battery cell with the first electrolyte. The copper and zinc rods were the positive and negative electrodes. The acid started to eat away the zinc rod, while the copper rod captured the energy released from the action. An EMF developed between the two electrodes. Volta had invented the cell.

Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Italy in 1745. In 1774, he was appointed as professor of physics at the Royal School in Como. While at the Royal School, Alessandro Volta designed his first invention - the electrophorus - in 1774, a device that produced static electricity. For years at Como, he studied and experimented with atmospheric electricity by igniting static sparks. In 1779, Alessandro Volta was appointed professor of physics at the University of Pavia and it was while there that he invented his most famous invention, the voltaic pile

One contemporary of Alessandro Volta was Luigi Galvani. It was Volta's disagreement with Galvani's theory of galvanic responses (animal tissue contained a form of electricity – remember the frog’s legs experiments?) that led Volta to build the voltaic pile to prove that electricity did not come from the animal tissue but was generated by the contact of different metals, brass and iron, in a moist environment.

The combatants

Alessandro Volta* 1745 - 1827

Luigi Galvani 1737 - 1798

(*Volta also invented the electrophorus and discovered methane)

Schematic construction of a six

cell pile

Volta’s pile

A museum example

Battery history timeline

1789 - today

Date Event Comment

1789 Volta’s cell The new age is born

1802 Cruikshank’s pile First easily reproduced pile

1836 John Daniell’s improvements

Improves the pile

1859 Planté invents first rechargeable battery

Lead acid

1869 Leclanché develops first wet battery

1881 Thiebaut’s dry battery Patented

1890 Edison invents rechargeable NiFe cell

1896 First mass-produced dry battery

National Carbon Company (USA)

1896 The “D” cell is designed

You may think of it as the U2 or HP2 cell. It is the largest 1.5 volt battery

1789 - 1896

Date Event Comment

1899 Invention of the NiCd battery by Jungner

1910 Commercial production of NiFe batteries

1914 Edison develops first alkaline battery

1934 Schlecht and Akermann invent the sintered plate NiCd battery

1947 Sealed NiCd battery developed

1956 First 9 volt battery produced

PP3 shape. Needed for transistor radios

1960s Alkaline batteries commercially produced

1899 - 1960

Date Event Comment

1970s Non rechargeable Lithium battery available

1970s Maintenance free lead-acid battery available

1976 Philips Research invents the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery

1980s Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery improved

1990s Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries commercially produced

2000s Lithium ion – polymer batteries developed

1970 - today

The Daniell cell (1836)

Schematic view

Zinc sulphate Copper sulphate

The Daniell cell

Schematic view of Daniell cell with a salt bridge

The Leclanche cell (1869)

First commercial “wet” battery

Some facts and figures

What is the most popular size?

How many are sold annually?

What types?

How much power?

What about recycling?

The main types of battery

compared by size

What is the most

popular size?

The “AA” battery is the world’s

most popular battery

How many AA batteries

are sold annually?

First – how many batteries of ANY shape or size do

YOU use personally?

Some hints! You will find them in…

Torches, cycle lights, camping lanterns, portable radios, portable television, iPlayers, iPads, Xbox and other game machines, mobile phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, Kindles and other ereaders, remote controlled models, most watches, blood pressure monitors, cars (starter battery for petrol or diesel cars), cars (primary motive energy source for electric and hybrid cars), gas lighters, electric shavers, electric clocks, pacemakers, TV and other consumer electronic remote controllers, garage door openers, domestic security systems, vehicle security systems, video recorders, DVD players and recorders, cameras, video cameras, insulin pumps, domestic weather stations, portable power tools, mowers, strimmers, hedge cutters, hearing aids, and many many more And that is quite without the myriad of commercial and industrial applications

So batteries are quite ubiquitous. In short,

without them we would be back in the 19th century

In the UK we buy around 200,000,000 AA batteries

each year

A little bit of nostalgia

Some older batteries

The 2 volt accumulator

A little anecdote about charging accumulators….

….or a cautionary tale about why you should

always read the instructions first !

The HighTension battery

A massive battery about 7" along the long edge, giving 48V, 60V, 72V, 108V and 120V at various tapping points. Potentially lethal! Connections made using “banana” plugs

Designed for use with valve radios. Used in conjunction with a rechargeable 2 volt accumulator

Here’s the cycle lamp

And here’s my very first handlamp with a bullseye lens on the front

The Portable filament supply battery 1.5 volt

Designed for use with the newer generation of subminiature glass-based valves used in portable radios. These valves consumed much less power so no need for a hefty 2 volt lead-acid accumulator But this is a dry battery and cannot be recharged

The demise of British

manufacturing

A Cautionary Tale about Ever Ready

Ever Ready’s cheap and cheerful radio

The Saucepan Special

My very first cycle lamp

Ever Ready’s complementary products

Remember these?

Ever Ready’s complementary products

Ever Ready’ specialised in low technology zinc-carbon

batteries

They thought that the light at the end of the tunnel was a good old zinc-carbon torch battery.

Unfortunately it was an alkaline battery heading for the market at top speed……

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Total Primary

Zinc-Carbon

Alkaline

Silver oxide

Lithium

Others

Sales development – (Japan) – 1986 to 2010 M

illion

s of

units

Year

Primary cells

Sales

- $

US m

illion

s

Year

World sales of rechargeable batteries 1985 - 2003

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

World production share by region

Production years 2000 - 2005

Increasing efficiency and

reducing cost of lithium calls

Lithium supply problems?

75% of the known world supplies are in South America

What types of

battery are

there?

There are two fundamental types of battery

PRIMARY • Bought fully charged • Have a long shelf life • Cannot be recharged

SECONDARY • May be bought fully charged, or not • Indefinite shelf life • Can be recharged 100-1000 times • Fully charged battery loses charge over time

even if not used • May suffer from “memory effect”

Primary batteries

• Zinc-carbon (or zinc-chloride-carbon). The original “dry” battery. Think “Ever Ready”

• Alkaline manganese. Almost completely superseded zinc-carbon. (Typical Duracell battery)

• Lithium-manganese dioxide. Higher power than alkaline. Disposal problem

• Silver oxide. Used for “coin” or “button” cells in watches and computers

• Zinc-air. Used for hearing aids. Light weight. Very long storage life

Secondary batteries • Lead-acid. The typical car battery. May be sealed

• Nickel iron (NiFe). Very robust. Sodium hydroxide electrolyte. Lower capacity than lead-acid.

• Nickel-cadmium (NiCad). Original rechargeable version of the “AA” battery. Now used for portable power tools. Major problem with hazardous material. Can suffer from “memory effect”. Usually sealed.

• Nickel-metal hydride. Rechargeable version of AA and AAA batteries. Lower voltage but stays at same voltage throughout discharge. Higher capacity than NiCad.

• Lithium. High power applications. Two different types: Lithium-ion and lithium-ion-polymer. Flat shape

Lithium coin cell (PRIMARY)

Same size as a 10p piece. Lasts 10 years or more!

There is one in every computer – remembering the BIOS settings. Without it the computer wouldn’t know what sort of disk drive it had, etc!

Zinc-air cell (PRIMARY)

• Light weight – used for hearing aids • Exceptionally long shelf life – sealed • Out of all of the battery chemicals commonly in use today, it

allows for the greatest amount of power to be stored for a given weight.

Silver-oxide battery (PRIMARY)

• Used for watches. They come in about 60 different sizes • Low drain (e.g. SR44W) and high drain versions (e.g. SR44SW)

available. You can replace a ”W” with an “SW” without problems. • The silver-oxide battery is most efficient when squeezing the last bit

of electricity into a confined space for storage

Nickel-Cadmium battery (SECONDARY)

• Enabled the early use of portable power tools, camcorders, laptop computers and cellular phones

• Was the industry standard for portable computers until 1992

• NiCad batteries have been virtually displaced by NiMH and Li-ion

• Low energy density by weight makes it less desirable for portable computers

• NiCad batteries have a memory that prevents efficient topping up

• NiCads polute the environment if not disposed of correctly

• Low cost and high power capability make it the best technology for motor driven portable devices such as power tools

• Uses nickel hydroxide and cadmium electrodes with potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte.

Nickel metal hydride (SECONDARY)

• Commercial introduction in 1990

• Rapidly took market share away from NiCd batteries in the portable computing industry

• Differ from NiCd only by their negative electrode which is made of a metal alloy capable of storing a large amount of electrons.

• Metal hydride is produced as the charging product

• Energy density is almost 50% greater than NiCad

Lithium battery (SECONDARY)

• Outputs 3v per cell so NOT directly interchangeable with normal 1.5v batteries

• Produce the same energy as NiMH batteries but are 40% smaller, half the weight, and are better for the environment because they don't contain toxic materials

• Very good power to weight ratio

• Laptop computers and mobile phones

• Taking market share away from NiMH

• There are safety issues both when charging and on disposal!