The history of batteries
The history of the battery is filled with mystery and scientific breakthroughs. While the very first battery remains a hotly debated subject, with anomalies like the 2,200-year-old Baghdad battery, the first well-documented electrochemical battery was invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, commonly known as the voltaic pile. 36 years later, the first commercially viable battery was created by John Frederic Daniell, which began the battery revolution.
Let's explore the key milestones that shaped battery technology into what we know today.
Discovered in 1938 in modern day Iraq, the Baghdad battery is very possibly the world’s first electric cell. It consists of a 13cm tall terracotta pot containing an iron rod wrapped in copper sheeting.
Archaeologists debate both the dating and intended function of the object. Some believe it was used for electroplating while others suggest it was a religious artefact for storing sacred texts or possibly even giving an electric tingle to worshippers!
Before Benjamin Franklin helped draft the declaration of independence, he spent some time experimenting with electricity. In 1749 he used the analogy of a ‘battery’ of cannons to explain the series of cells that he combined to create a crude electric battery (as a series of cannons might be used in warfare).
However, this name isn’t always really fitting, as many modern consumer batteries only contain one cell as opposed to a ‘battery’ of them (cylindrical & coin cells for example).
The true grandfather of modern batteries is Alessandro Volta, an Italian scientist who brought us the Voltaic Pile. It consisted of a glass tube full of copper (cathode) and zinc (anode) discs stacked on top of one another, separated by brine-soaked sheets of paper (electrolyte).
It produced a stable but weak current, disproving the idea that electricity could only be created by living organisms. It inspired generations of scientists to revisit his work and improve upon it, eventually leading to the modern-day battery.
Almost 40 years after the voltaic pile, British chemist John Frederic Daniell produced the Daniell Cell, which solved some technical difficulties of the voltaic pile (such as the accumulation of hydrogen bubbles under the zinc plates).
It consisted of a copper pot filled with a copper sulphate solution, immersed in another pot full of sulphuric acid and a zinc electrode. It produced 1.1 volts and soon became the battery industry standard, used for over 100 years to power telegraphs, telephones, and doorbells, among other things.
The next great step for battery technology was the first rechargeable cell, which is still in use today - the lead-acid battery. Invented by the French physicist Gaston Planté in 1859, the lead-acid battery paved the way for innovations in public transport and the motor vehicle industry.
The original design was improved upon by Camille Alphonse Faure whose streamlined version was better suited to mass production in the late 1800s.
In 1866 the French engineer Georges Leclanche patented the Leclanche cell, the world’s first carbon-zinc battery. He later added starch to jellify the liquid electrolyte, making it less hazardous and more portable. The Leclanche dry cell was used to power early telephones in the days before they drew electricity directly from the phone lines.
All functional batteries up 3.5.4to this point were wet-cell (the electrolyte was fully liquid) which meant batteries needed to be kept flat and steady for reliable and safe use. This all changed when Carl Gassner updated the Leclanche cell into the first commercially successful dry-cell battery by sealing the battery and changing the electrolyte’s consistency from liquid to paste. A few years later, in 1887, Yai Sakizo from Japan improved the zinc-carbon battery further still.
Thanks to the Swedish inventor and engineer Waldemar Jungner we now have nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries. He invented them in 1899 along with nickel-iron electrical storage batteries (NiFe) and rechargeable alkaline silver-cadmium batteries (AgCd). The NiCd cell was a more physically and chemically robust alternative to lead-acid batteries, and played a significant role in early battery use.
Modern alkaline batteries were invented by Lewis Urry, an employee of Eveready, the first company to mass produce carbon-zinc batteries in the late 19th century.
Tasked with improving their existing carbon-zinc battery design, Urry swapped out the acidic electrolyte for an alkaline potassium hydroxide solution and replaced the solid zinc anode with zinc powder. In doing so he created a more durable and high performing battery that is still in high demand today. Urry is also credited with the invention of the lithium battery.
Nickel metal hydride cells, NiMH for short, were developed over a span of 20 years and are a progression of NiCd cells, without the toxic cadmium. This improved the environmental impact of the battery and helped increase its energy density.
The research was carried out in Geneva, sponsored by Mercedes and Volkswagen, culminating in the first commercially available NiMH batteries in 1989. Since then, they’ve served a wide variety of functions, including the powering of hybrid vehicles.
Lithium rechargeable batteries were developed throughout the 1970s and 1980s by various scientists and researchers around the world. Early proposals identified several obstacles that needed to be overcome in order to create a safe, economically viable product. Lithium-ion made its commercial debut in 1991, released by Sony and Asahi Kasei.
Since then, many iterations of the cell have appeared. In 2019 John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino received the Nobel prize in chemistry for their role in the development of lithium-ion battery technology.
Wireless charging has become an increasingly popular means of powering modern handheld devices thanks to the Qi standard - an open interface standard allowing inductive charging over distances of several centimetres.
This technology was first theorised in 1894 as a method to power electric vehicles. However, due to the success of combustion engines, the idea was dismissed until the 1970’s when academics began exploring inductive charging for cars, headlamps, and other applications. Today inductive charging is used for both low-power applications, such as smartphones, and high-power applications, such as electric vehicles.
Universities and research labs around the world are busy exploring and developing incredible new battery technologies that will redefine how we use electricity and potentially aid us in our struggle to protect the environment.
Tesla’s battery farms are capable of storing enough renewable energy to power a city. IBM’s upcoming sea-water battery is already outperforming lithium-ion in various categories. The Bill Gates foundation is funding the development of urine-powered batteries, and other organisations are developing a method for charging devices via wi-fi. These are just a few of the potential next steps in battery technology.
