Battery Power

Count Alessandro Volta of Italy described the first battery in a paper to the Royal Society in 1799. His battery, which became known as Volta's pile, comprised alternating discs of zinc and copper with pieces of cardboard soaked in brine between the metals. From then on several other cell chemistries were introduced and manufactured batteries soon followed. Notably, the Daniell cell was invented in 1836 by British chemist John Frederic Daniell (see Box 1). In the early days the chemistry was confined to aqueous reactions but as electrochemistry developed interest turned to non-aqueous reactions as an alternative. In this article we take a look at the range of cell chemistries exploited in primary and secondary batteries on offer, from the tiny batteries for medical implants to the 100,000,000 watt-hour molten-sodium batteries which are used in power stations for load levelling.