History of Batteries and How Do They Work :- Energy Revolution Series P-1

Energy is the dynamics of this universe. Whatever we see in the domain of space is concrete energy playing around. Even in the most boring and dull brick, there's but concentrated energy at its base. Again, if we notice it deeply, the very existence of time is due to energy; for the very defination of time is progression of events in forward direction - and every event is but a circus of energy.

Imagine deep space with no atoms, no energy - nothing. Observe it. Do you notice the passage of time? No. But again, if you treat yourself, that is, your body as an observer; due to your body's state of constant decay, you will be bounded by time, as you are but grosser energy.

This idea of energy always intrigues me. It compels me to think more and more about it. 

Energy, as in terms of a commodity useful for human work, has been revolutionary in our growth and success as living beings.

Just a little example, enough to settle everything. See the birds and see humans. They have wings, thanks to their certain evolutionary path. Humans don't have wings. Still, only due to our effective understanding and controlled use of energy - we can practically fly. We can imitate almost every best feature of other living beings, and even go beyond it, just by mastering energy. Take for an example, the case of technology and internet - which happened only because of our great intimacy with electricity.

Now, energy is useful only if it is available when and where it is wanted. Hence, controlling energy in various ways and storing it in various ways comes to the scene.

History of Batteries and How Do They Work

Batteries, i.e Energy Storage, is a triumph of science.

It all started in the 1780s with two Italian scientists, Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, and a frog.

Legend has it that as Galvani was studying a frog's leg, he brushed a metal instrument up against one of its nerves, making the leg muscles jerk. Galvani called this animal electricity, believing that a type of electricity was stored in the very stuff of life.

But Volta disagreed, arguing that it was the metal itself that made the leg twitch. The debate was eventually settled with Volta's groundbreaking experiment.

What happened in Volta's cell is something chemists now call oxidation and reduction.

The zinc oxidizes, which means it loses electrons, which are, in turn, gained by the ions in the water in a process called reduction,

producing hydrogen gas.

This oxidation-reduction cycle creates a flow of electrons between two substances and if you hook a lightbulb or vacuum cleaner up between the two, you'll give it power.

Hence we made a tryst with energy, best generating it in the form of electricity - which is by far the most efficient, controllable, and distrubutable form of energy. Galvanic cell, voltaic cell or the Deniel cell was our earliest attempt to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. 

So what we basically need to generate energy, is to anyhow make the electrons flow. We need motion to generate energy. Don't believe it? Look at turbines going round all the time to generate electricity. It is the best commercial method to generate energy. Entire world is stuck into this process. And obviously, these turbines aren't gonna generate electricity by our hands efforts! Steam produced by crude oil products turn those turbines for us.

Now, ofcourse batteries evolved a lot in the coming 200 years after Volta.

Up to this point, all existing batteries would be permanently drained when all their chemical reactants were spent. In 1859, Gaston Planté invented the lead–acid battery, the first-ever battery that could be recharged by passing a reverse current through it. 

in 1868, a Frenchman called Georges Leclanché invented the “Leclanché cell.” This was the origin of today’s dry batteries, but it could be inconvenient to use as its ammonium chloride solution would spill over.

In 1888, a German called Carl Gassner invented a battery where there was no risk of the solution spilling. Because the battery would not spill even though it contained a liquid, Gassner’s invention became known as the “dry cell” or “dry battery.”

Today cells are classified as "primary" if they produce a current only until their chemical reactants are exhausted, and "secondary" if the chemical reactions can be reversed by recharging the cell. The lead-acid cell was the first "secondary" cell.

A metal oxidizes, sending electrons to do some work before they are regained by a substance being reduced. But any battery has a finite supply of metal, and once most of it has oxidized, the battery dies.

So rechargeable batteries give us a temporary solution to this problem by making the oxidation-reduction process reversible.

Electrons can flow back in the opposite direction with the application of electricity.

Plugging in a charger draws the electricity from a wall outlet that drives the reaction to regenerate the metal, making more electrons available for oxidation the next time you need them.

But even rechargeable batteries don't last forever. Over time, the repetition of this process causes imperfections and irregularities in the metal's surface that prevent it from oxidizing properly.

The electrons are no longer available to flow through a circuit and the battery dies.

For many years, nickel-cadmium had been the only suitable battery for portable equipment from wireless communications to mobile computing. Nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion emerged In the early 1990s, fighting nose-to-nose to gain customer's acceptance. Today, lithium-ion is the fastest growing and most promising battery chemistry.

Pioneer work with the lithium battery began in 1912 under G.N. Lewis but it was not until the early 1970s when the first non-rechargeable lithium batteries became commercially available. lithium is the lightest of all metals, has the greatest electrochemical potential and provides the largest energy density for weight.

The Latest Problem With Batteries, and the Burning Demand.

Renewable energy supplies have different requirements for storage and distribution than do fossil or nuclear energy supplies.

Since use of renewable energy supplies constitutes a diversion of a continuing natural flow of energy, there are problems in matching supply and demand in the time domain, i.e. in matching the rate at which energy is used. This varies with time on scales of months (e.g. house heating in temperature climates), days (e.g. artificial lighting) and even seconds (e.g. starting motors).

In contrast to fossil fuels and nuclear power, the initial input power of renewable energy sources is outside our control. We have the choice of either matching the load to the availability of renewable energy supply, or storing the energy for future use.

Hence, innovation in Energy Storage is today needed more than ever.

What's the issue with present systems, how are we taclking that, what's the future - It's for another blog. This one has already become very lengthy.

But my motive of explaining to you all the A to Z of energy storage has been fulfilled, I guess. And I think it is enough to ignite curiosity too!

The entire world is looking upon bright minds to come forward and solve such practical problems. 

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.