Well over one billion are manufactured and sold annually.

The most popular primary battery used in portable consumer products is the 1.5 Volt standard alkaline battery (Zn/MnO2). Properly designed, a secondary battery can be recharged hundreds of times (with shallow cycling, many thousands of cycles can be achieved). Much of the engineering involved in the design of rechargeable batteries involves the management of gasses generated during cycling - careful control of charge voltages and currents are critical in this management scheme, as is consideration of gas recombination mechanisms, where appropriate. During recharge, the “discharged” anode and cathode are returned to their original “charged” state. Secondary batteries, whose anode and cathode discharge reactions are reversible, are engineered so they can be safely recharged. Primary batteries are not engineered for recharging and doing so may result in an explosion. batteries that are used once then discarded. Primary batteries are disposable batteries, i.e. For Li-Ion, these are copper foil for the anode and aluminum foil for the cathode.īatteries are categorized as being either primary or secondary systems. The conductive current collectors are typically the carrier metal substrates holding the anode/cathode active ingredients. The electrolyte is the aqueous (non-aqueous for lithium batteries) medium providing the ionic conduction inside the battery. The separator is a physical paper/non-woven film barrier which electrically insulates the anode from the cathode (preventing electrical internal short circuits but allowing anions/cations to freely pass. The cathode (the positive electrode) is where the cell’s reduction reaction takes place, consuming electrons from the external circuit. The anode (the negative electrode) is where the cell’s oxidation reaction takes place, generating electrons to the external circuit. The container is the metal can, plastic case, or foil pouch housing of the cell. A battery may be either a single cell or multiple cells connected in series/parallel configurations.Ī battery cell consists of a container, electrodes (anode and cathode), separator material, electrolyte, and conductive current collectors.

A “battery” is the generic term for an electrochemical source of electricity, which stores energy in a chemically bound form, and which can convert this directly into electric power.

Lithium ion polymer battery overview