An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negative terminal is the anode. The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons. When a battery is connected to an external electric load, those negatively charged electrons flow through the circuit and reach the positive terminal, thus causing a redox reaction by attracting positively charged ions, or cations. Thus, higher energy reactants are converted to lower energy products, and the free-energy difference is delivered to the external circuit as electrical energy. Historically the term "battery" specifically referred to a device composed of multiple cells; however, the usage has evolved to include devices composed of a single cell.
Primary (single-use or "disposable") batteries are used once and discarded, as the electrode materials are irreversibly changed during discharge; a common example is the alkaline battery used for flashlights and a multitude of portable electronic devices. Secondary (rechargeable) batteries can be discharged and recharged multiple times using an applied electric current; the original composition of the electrodes can be restored by reverse current. Examples include the lead–acid automotive battery used in internal combustion engine vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries used for portable electronics and electric cars.
Batteries come in many shapes and sizes, from miniature cells used to power hearing aids and wristwatches to, at the largest extreme, huge battery banks the size of rooms that provide standby or emergency power for telephone exchanges and computer data centers. Batteries have much lower specific energy (energy per unit mass) than common fuels such as gasoline. In automobiles, this is somewhat offset by the higher efficiency of electric motors in converting electrical energy to mechanical work, compared to combustion engines.
History
Invention
Benjamin Franklin first used the term "battery" in 1749 when he was doing experiments with electricity using a set of linked Leyden jar capacitors. Franklin grouped a number of the jars into what he described as a "battery", using the military term for weapons functioning together. By multiplying the number of holding vessels, a stronger charge could be stored, and more power would be available on discharge.
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta built and described the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic pile, in 1800. This was a stack of copper and zinc plates, separated by brine-soaked paper disks, that could produce a steady current for a considerable length of time. Volta did not understand that the voltage was due to chemical reactions. He thought that his cells were an inexhaustible source of energy,Stinner, Arthur. Alessandro Volta and Luigi Galvani (PDF). Retrieved 11 August 2008. and that the associated corrosion effects at the electrodes were a mere nuisance, rather than an unavoidable consequence of their operation, as Michael Faraday showed in 1834.Fascinating facts about the invention of the Electric Battery by Alessandro Volta in 1800. The Great Idea Finder. Retrieved 11 August 2008
Although early batteries were of great value for experimental purposes,for instance, in the discovery of electromagnetism in 1820 in practice their voltages fluctuated and they could not provide a large current for a sustained period. The Daniell cell, invented in 1836 by British chemist John Frederic Daniell, was the first practical source of electricity, becoming an industry standard and seeing widespread adoption as a power source for electrical telegraph networks.Battery History, Technology, Applications and Development . MPower Solutions Ltd. Retrieved 19 March 2007. It consisted of a copper pot filled with a copper sulfate solution, in which was immersed an unglazed earthenware container filled with sulfuric acid and a zinc electrode.
These wet cells used liquid electrolytes, which were prone to leakage and spillage if not handled correctly. Many used glass jars to hold their components, which made them fragile and potentially dangerous. These characteristics made wet cells unsuitable for portable appliances. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the invention of dry cell batteries, which replaced the liquid electrolyte with a paste, made portable electrical devices practical.
Batteries in vacuum tube devices historically used a wet cell for the "A" battery (to provide power to the filament) and a dry cell for the "B" battery (to provide the plate voltage).
Ongoing developments
Between 2010 and 2018, battery demand grew by 30% annually, reaching a total of 180 GWh in 2018. Conservatively, the growth rate is expected to be maintained at an estimated 25%, culminating in demand reaching 2600 GWh in 2030. In addition, cost reductions are expected to further increase the demand to as much as 3562 GWh.
Important reasons for this high rate of growth of the electric battery industry include the electrification of transport, and large-scale deployment in electricity grids, supported by decarbonization initiatives.
Distributed electric batteries, such as those used in battery electric vehicles (vehicle-to-grid) and in home energy storage with smart metering and that are connected to smart grids for demand response are active participants in smart power supply grids. Secondary use of partially depleted batteries can add to the overall utility of electric batteries by reducing energy storage costs and emission impact due to longer service life. In this use, vehicle electric batteries that have their battery capacity reduced to less than 80% (usually after 5–8 years of service) are repurposed for use in backup supplies or renewable energy storage systems.
Grid scale energy storage envisages the large-scale use of batteries to collect and store energy from the grid or a power plant and then discharge that energy at a later time to provide electricity or other grid services when needed. Grid scale energy storage (either turnkey or distributed) are important components of smart power supply grids.
Computational paradigm shift The advent of computational modeling has revolutionized battery materials design, enabling high-throughput screening and atomistic simulations that accelerate the discovery of novel electrolytes and electrodes, moving beyond traditional trial-and-error approaches.
Chemistry and principles
Batteries convert chemical energy directly to electrical energy. In many cases, the electrical energy released is the difference in the cohesive or bond energies of the metals, oxides, or molecules undergoing the electrochemical reaction. For instance, energy can be stored in Zn or Li, which are high-energy metals because they are not stabilized by d-electron bonding, unlike transition metals. Batteries are designed so that the energetically favorable redox reaction can occur only when electrons move through the external part of the circuit.
A battery consists of some number of voltaic cells. Each cell consists of two half-cells connected in series by a conductive electrolyte containing metal cations. One half-cell includes electrolyte and the negative electrode, the electrode to which anions (negatively charged ions) migrate; the other half-cell includes electrolyte and the positive electrode, to which cations (positively charged ions) migrate. Cations are reduced (electrons are added) at the cathode, while metal atoms are oxidized (electrons are removed) at the anode.Dingrando 665. Some cells use different electrolytes for each half-cell; then a separator is used to prevent mixing of the electrolytes while allowing ions to flow between half-cells to complete the electrical circuit.
Each half-cell has an electromotive force (emf, measured in volts) relative to a standard. The net emf of the cell is the difference between the emfs of its half-cells.Saslow 338. Thus, if the electrodes have emfs and , then the net emf is ; in other words, the net emf is the difference between the reduction potentials of the half-reactions.Dingrando 666.
The electrical driving force or across the terminals of a cell is known as the terminal voltage (difference) and is measured in volts.Knight 943. The terminal voltage of a cell that is neither charging nor discharging is called the open-circuit voltage and equals the emf of the cell. Because of internal resistance,Knight 976. the terminal voltage of a cell that is discharging is smaller in magnitude than the open-circuit voltage and the terminal voltage of a cell that is charging exceeds the open-circuit voltage.Terminal Voltage. Tiscali Reference. Originally from Hutchinson Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 7 April 2007 An ideal cell has negligible internal resistance, so it would maintain a constant terminal voltage of until exhausted, then dropping to zero. If such a cell maintained 1.5 volts and produced a charge of one coulomb then on complete discharge it would have performed 1.5 joules of work. In actual cells, the internal resistance increases under discharge and the open-circuit voltage also decreases under discharge. If the voltage and resistance are plotted against time, the resulting graphs typically are a curve; the shape of the curve varies according to the chemistry and internal arrangement employed.
The voltage developed across a cell's terminals depends on the energy release of the chemical reactions of its electrodes and electrolyte. Alkaline and zinc–carbon cells have different chemistries, but approximately the same emf of 1.5 volts; likewise NiCd and NiMH cells have different chemistries, but approximately the same emf of 1.2 volts.Dingrando 674. The high electrochemical potential changes in the reactions of lithium compounds give lithium cells emfs of 3 volts or more.Dingrando 677.
Almost any liquid or moist object that has enough ions to be electrically conductive can serve as the electrolyte for a cell. As a novelty or science demonstration, it is possible to insert two electrodes made of different metals into a lemon, potato,ZOOM activities: phenom Potato Battery. Accessed 10 April 2007. etc. and generate small amounts of electricity.
A voltaic pile can be made from two coins (such as a nickel and a penny) and a piece of paper towel dipped in salt water. Such a pile generates a very low voltage but, when many are stacked in series, they can replace normal batteries for a short time.Howstuffworks "Battery Experiments: Voltaic Pile". Accessed 10 April 2007.
Types
Primary and secondary batteries
Batteries are classified into primary and secondary forms:
Primary batteries are designed to be used until exhausted of energy then discarded. Their chemical reactions are generally not reversible, so they cannot be recharged. When the supply of reactants in the battery is exhausted, the battery stops producing current and is useless.Dingrando 675. Secondary batteries can be recharged; that is, they can have their chemical reactions reversed by applying electric current to the cell. This regenerates the original chemical reactants, so they can be used, recharged, and used again multiple times.Fink, Ch. 11, Sec. "Batteries and Fuel Cells."
Some types of primary batteries used, for example, for telegraph circuits, were restored to operation by replacing the electrodes.Franklin Leonard Pope, Modern Practice of the Electric Telegraph 15th Edition, D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 1899, pp. 7–11. Available on the Internet Archive Secondary batteries are not indefinitely rechargeable due to dissipation of the active materials, loss of electrolyte and internal corrosion.