What is a battery made of-chemicals, pros, and cons

You can try to imagine life without batteries. Could it not be boring? For sure, it could. Most of the portable devices we have to use electricity to operate. Without the batteries, we would have no other means of using these devices when we are far from our sockets.

 We would only be able to take our mobile phones and laptops as far as the charging cables could go.

In good luck, we have batteries dating way back to 150 BC. There were batteries used during those times made of copper and iron electrodes with citric acid. They have been improved over the years till now we have the current batteries you see today.

What chemicals are in battery?

1. Battery casing – also called battery housing, are walls enclosing the full functional battery components and chemicals. A typical 12 volt DC automobile battery, also referred to as lead-acid, has lead, Cell plates straps, and distilled water. These entire chemicals are compacted and sealed by the casing for safety purposes and efficient provision of high current. Most of the battery casings are manufactured using polypropylene co-polymers- plastic capable of resisting corrosive effects of battery acid. People always confuse battery casing with battery cases. A case is made to hold and safeguard the housing enclosed battery. The battery case may be made from several materials including co-polymer.

2. The Battery’s Electrolyte- electrolyte in a battery acts as an activator in making the battery by facilitating the movement of ions from the cathode to the anode on charge and in reverse discharge. Ions are the electrically charged atoms with a lot of gained electrons. In the electrolyte are soluble salts, acid, or other liquid bases, gelled and dry formats. The electrolyte also comes in a polymer and molten salts. 

3. Battery chemistry- In a basic idea on how a battery generates current to power up the device, the battery must contain several types of chemicals bases, which may vary depending on the battery type. A battery chemistry that powers up every device is a combination of zinc, high-density manganese dioxide, and potassium hydroxide. An alkaline battery gives current when manganese dioxide cathode is minimized, and the zinc anode is oxidized.

What are the pros and cons of battery components?

Pros

1.Low maintenance- one of the significant advantages of battery components, is that they require maintenance that cost less to optimize performance. Unlike the NI- Cad cells that needed a regular discharge to make sure they didn't exhibit the effect associated with memory. It is not the case with lithium batteries. There are no maintenance procedures involved.

2.Higher energy density – higher energy density in batteries is a result of the components in the battery. With devices like mobile phones that require charges to operate longer while consuming more power, there is always the need for battery with more power. And the much higher energy offered by lithium batteries is a huge advantage. 

3.Size and weight – Components used in making batteries store electrical energy four times more than the conventional batteries of the same weight and size. It benefits many with limited space and load-carrying capacity. 

4.Proper management – batteries have a system that is manageably enabled by the components. They have equally charge cells and charge voltage and current kept within safe boundaries. 

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Cons

1.Protection requires – batteries are not robust as it is the case with other rechargeable technologies. Their components require protection from getting overcharged as well as discharging much. Besides, they need a current safeguard with safe limits.

2.Cost – A major con about lithium batteries is the cost. They cost relatively high compared to other batteries. They are 40% more costly to manufacturer than nickel-cadmium cells.  Considering their use in mass-produced items, it becomes a disadvantage where any additional cost may be an issue.

How do batteries work?

Have you ever mixed two elements with different reaction rates? The production of the bubbles seen is a result of a chemical reaction within the mix. It is the same reaction that happens within a battery. And with this, I assume you already know how a battery works. 

Electricity, most probably as you already know, composes a flow of electrons through a conductor path (wire). And this path is known as a circuit.

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Batteries have three essential parts, electrolyte, cathode, and anode. The cathode and anode (the most known as positive and negative sides) are attached up to an electrical circuit.

There are a series of chemical reaction that occurs in the electrolyte known as oxidation-reduction reactions. The cathode is the oxidation agent, as it accepts electrons from the anode, and the anode is called a reducing agent because it loses electrons to cathode.

As a result, the reduction and oxidation reactions result in the flow of ions between anode and cathode, and the release of electrons from the atoms of the electrode.

The produced free electrons cling around anode (right bottom part of the battery). It causes different charges at the anode, and this makes it negative as the electrons are produced, and the cathode becomes positively when the electrons from the anode are consumed. Through this reaction, different charges cause the electrons to want to move to the positively charged cathode. But the separator prevents them from doing so.

When you flick your flashlight’s switch, the electrons now have a path to flow to the cathode. But wait, they have to flow through the base of your flashlight’s bulb. And the circuit is not complete until electrons current reenters the battery through the top of the battery at the cathode.

Conclusion

 Batteries play such vital in our lives. With batteries, you can comfortably use your portable devices without any need to access mains grid provided it has power. Batteries are made of different chemicals, including electrolyte, casing, and battery chemistry- combination of zinc, high-density manganese dioxide, and potassium hydroxide. These components are what battery is made of. With these batteries, we can get power with low cost and enjoying current without access to the mains grid.