Firenze University Press www.fupress.com/substantia Energy on demand: A brief history of the development of the battery Citation: C. L. Heth (2019) Energy on demand: A brief history of the devel- opment of the battery. Substantia 3(2) Suppl. 1: 73-82. doi: 10.13128/Sub- Christopher L. Heth stantia-280 Minot State University, 500 University Ave. W, Minot, ND 58707 Copyright: © 2019 C. L. Heth. This is E-mail: [email protected] an open access, peer-reviewed article published by Firenze University Press (http://www.fupress.com/substantia) Abstract. Portable, readily available electrical energy provided by batteries is ubiq- and distributed under the terms of the uitous in modern society and can easily be taken for granted. From the early Voltaic Creative Commons Attribution License, piles to modern lithium ion cells, batteries have been powering scientific and techno- which permits unrestricted use, distri- logical advancement for over two centuries. A survey of select notable developments bution, and reproduction in any medi- leading to modern batteries commercially available today are presented, with emphasis um, provided the original author and on early technologies and also including some of the advancements made within the source are credited. last few decades. A brief discussion of the chemistry utilized by battery technology is Data Availability Statement: All rel- also included. evant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Keywords. Battery, electrochemical cell, Voltaic pile, Daniell cell. Competing Interests: The Author(s) declare(s) no conflict of interest. INTRODUCTION In the modern industrialized world, it can be difficult to imagine life without ready access to on-demand electricity. Massive electrical infrastruc- tures have been built allowing for safe, reliable, and constant delivery of elec- trical energy to households, businesses, and industrial complexes throughout much of the globe. By 1950, electric power consumption in the United States was reported at 291 billion kilowatt hours.1 By the mid 1990’s usage topped 3,000 billion kilowatt hours, and demand has continued to increase with consumption of 3,946 billion kilowatt hours reported for 2018, the bulk of which is split between residential (37%) and commercial (35%) usage.1 While this infrastructure effectively provides fixed access to electrical energy within relatively easy reach in homes, workplaces, and other loca- tions, batteries are used as a source of power for a myriad of devices. From cell phones to flashlights, wall clocks to children’s toys, more and more elec- tronic devices utilize battery power. Medical devices, whether implanted such as a pacemaker or external like an insulin pump, also require light- weight mobile power sources, as do fully electric automobiles on an even larger scale. With a ready supply of electrical energy ubiquitous in industrialized society, it can be easy to take this valuable resource for granted without con- sideration for the process by which the development of the battery occurred, Substantia. An International Journal of the History of Chemistry 3(2) Suppl. 1: 73-82, 2019 ISSN 1827-9643 (online) | DOI: 10.13128/Substantia-280 74 Christopher L. Heth or the technological advancements that followed. A com- In simple electrochemical cells (Figure 1), these plete and exhaustive accounting of all these advances processes occur at the surface of electronic conductors, would be an undertaking beyond the scope of this work termed electrodes. These electrodes may be composed of and may well be out-of-date prior to publication, as work a redox-active material or more electrochemically inert currently continues to design and produce smaller, light- materials such as platinum, mercury, gold, or graph- er, and longer lasting batteries for mobile electronics. As ite.5 Oxidation occurs at the anode, while the reduction such, this work will focus on the earliest battery devel- process occurs at the cathode. Between the electrodes is opments as well as the more significant general develop- an electrolyte, an ionic conductor necessary to reduce ments within the past several decades. polarization and allow current to flow. Wire or another electrically conducting material connects the two elec- trodes to a load, completing the circuit, allowing the THE ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL battery to discharge and work to be done. The overall system must remain charge-neutral in order to continue The term “battery” has several different meanings functioning. If a build up of charge occurs, polarization which may at first glance appear unrelated.2 The com- results and the electric current is reduced and ultimately mon thread within these varied definitions is the ref- stopped completely. erence to multiple parts working in concert, whether Batteries are often classified as either primary or artillery pieces, a pitcher and a catcher in baseball, or a secondary batteries. In both cases, chemical poten- collection of electrochemical cells. Benjamin Franklin tial energy is converted to electrical energy. For pri- is attributed with one of the first uses of the term “Elec- mary batteries, the chemical reactants are consumed trical Battery”, included in a letter describing his work in a process which is not easily reversible, resulting in with static electricity using Leyden jars to English natu- a battery which can only be discharged a single time. ralist Peter Collinson in 1749: Examples of primary batteries include common alka- line batteries, silver button cells and watch batteries, Upon this We made what we call’d an Electric Battery, and the homemade “lemon battery” consisting of piec- consisting of eleven Panes of large Sash Glass, arm’d with es of iron and copper stuck into the flesh of the acidic thin leaden Plates,…with Hooks of thick Leaden Wire one citrus fruit. from each Side standing upright, distant from each other; Secondary batteries also convert chemical potential and convenient Communications of Wire and Chain from the giving Side of one Pane to the receiving Side of the oth- energy to electrical energy, but do so through revers- er; that so the whole might be charg’d together, and with ible chemical process which render the resulting bat- the same Labour as one single Pane;…3 tery rechargeable. Application of electrical energy from an external source such as a generator or another bat- Over time, the term “battery” has come to refer to tery can regenerate the initial chemical reactants, restor- both a collection of connected electrochemical cells and ing the battery’s charge and allowing repeated charge/ a single working cell, and will be generally used without discharge cycles. Because of this ability to store energy, specificity throughout this work.4 these types of cells are also known as “storage batteries”. Batteries produce electrical energy through oxida- Common examples of storage batteries include lead-acid tion-reduction (redox) processes, wherein one substance loses electrons through oxidation while another sub- stance gains electrons through reduction. It is some- times convenient to examine the oxidation and reduc- tion processes independently as half reactions, an exam- ple of which is shown below. However, it is important to note that oxidation cannot occur without a correspond- ing reduction process also occurring and vice versa, although the two processes do not necessarily need to occur at the same physical location. Oxidation: Zn(s) → Zn2+(aq) + 2 e- Reduction: Cu2+(aq) + 2 e- → Cu(s) Overall: Zn(s) + Cu2+(aq) → Zn2+(aq) + Cu(s) Figure 1. A simple electrochemical cell. Energy on demand: A brief history of the development of the battery 75 batteries used in most automobiles and lithium-ion bat- a “crown of cups”, a series of what would modernly be teries found in mobile consumer electronics. described as simple wet cells.14 Discharging Volta’s pile resulted in visible corrosion occurring on the zinc (or tin) discs, the result of oxida- THE VOLTAIC PILE tion of the anode. A slight corrosion was also sometimes noted on the silver (or copper) cathode discs, but not to Prior to 1800, studies of electricity were limited to the same extent as seen on the anode. At the time this what could be achieved through collection and discharge led him to believe the current was solely the result of the of static electricity.6–8 While arcs with rather large volt- anodic reaction. Considering it is now known that oxi- ages could be achieved, their application was limited by dation cannot occur without reduction, and with Volta the small current and extremely short duration of the and others noting problematic polarization resulting discharge.6 Despite this limitation, the study of electri- from bubbles of hydrogen gas adhering to the electrode cal phenomenon spanned from attempts to split water surfaces, it seems evident that the corresponding reduc- through electrolysis, to studies with frogs predating tion process in Volta’s pile was the reduction of hydro- Luigi Galvani’s well-known work, to Franklin’s famous gen from water, as seen in the overall electrochemical lightning experiments.9–13 reaction below. In March of 1800, Alessandro Volta (Figure 2), pro- 2+ - fessor of natural philosophy at the University of Pavia Zn(s) + 2H2O(l) → Zn (aq) + H2(g) + 2OH (aq) in Lombardy, Italy, in a correspondence to Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of London, It should be noted that the reduction process is often described a device which could provide a continuous incorrectly attributed to reduction of the cathode mate- supply of electrical power.8,14 This apparatus (Figure rial (half reactions seen below for silver and copper). 3), later known as the “Voltaic Pile” consisted of discs However, this would require ions of the cathode material of tin or zinc paired with discs of copper, brass, or sil- to be already present in order to occur. While it is pos- ver, with layers of water-soaked paper, fiber board, or sible some advantageous oxidized cathode material may leather between the disc pairs.