Battery
INTRODUCTION
Batteries consist of two or more voltaic cells that are
connected in series to provide a steady dc voltage at the
battery’s output terminals.
Any battery (actually it may have one or more than one cell
connected in series) or cell that we use as a source of
electrical energy is basically a galvanic cell where the
chemical energy of the redox reaction is converted into
electrical energy.
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 to the positive terminal, thus
cause a redox reaction by attracting positively charged ions,
cations. Thus converts high-energy reactants to lower-energy
products, and the free-energy difference is delivered to the
external circuit as electrical energy. cell.
There are mainly Two Types of
baTTeries
a. primary baTTeries
In the primary batteries, the reaction occurs only once and
after use over a period of time battery becomes dead and
cannot be reused again. The most familiar example of this
type is the dry cell (known as Leclanche cell after its
discoverer) which is used commonly in our transistors and
clocks. The cell consists of a zinc container that also acts as
anode and the cathode is a carbon (graphite) rod surrounded
by powdered manganese dioxide and carbon (Fig.3.8). The
space between the electrodes is filled by a moist paste of
ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) and zinc chloride (ZnCl2).
The electrode reactions are complex, but they can be
written approximately as follows :
Mercury cell, suitable for low current devices like hearing
aids, watches, etc. consists of zinc – mercury amalgam as
anode and a paste of HgO and carbon as the cathode. The
electrolyte is a paste of KOH and ZnO.
Theelectrode reactions for the cell are given below:
b. seConDary baTTeries
A secondary cell after use can be recharged by passing current
through it in the opposite direction so that it can be used
again. A good secondary cell can undergo a large number of
discharging and charging cycles.
Two most imporant secondary batteries are:
1. LEAD STORAGE BATTERY
The most important secondary cell is the lead storage
battery commonly used in automobiles and invertors.
It consists of a lead anode and a grid of lead packed
with lead dioxide (PbO2 ) as cathode. A 38% solution
of sulphuric acid is used as an electrolytes
V
The cell reactions when the battery is in use are
given below:
i.e., overall cell reaction consisting of cathode and
anode reactions is:
On charging the battery the reaction is reversed and PbSO4(s)
on anode and cathode is converted into Pb and PbO2,
respectively
2. NICKEL-CADMIUM BATTERIES
The nickel–cadmium battery (Ni–Cd battery or NiCad
battery) is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide
hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes. The
abbreviation Ni–Cd is derived from the chemical
symbols of nickel (Ni) and cadmium (Cd): the
abbreviation NiCad is a registered trademark of SAFT
Corporation, although this brand name is commonly used to
describe all Ni–Cd batteries.
A Ni–Cd battery has a terminal voltage during discharge of
around 1.2 volts which decreases little until nearly the end of
discharge. The maximum electromotive force offered by a
Ni–Cd cell is 1.3 V. Ni–Cd batteries are made in a wide range
of sizes and capacities, from portable sealed types
interchangeable with carbon–zinc dry cells, to large ventilated
cells used for standby power and motive power. Compared
with other types of rechargeable cells they offer good cycle
life and performance at low temperatures with a fair capacity
but their significant advantage is the ability to deliver
practically their full rated capacity at high discharge rates
(discharging in one hour or less).
