Have you ever wondered what our world would be like today if there were no batteries? The battery is an increasingly important part of everyday life for every single one of us. Try to think how many devices you use at home or at work that need the energy of a battery to function, whether it be a common AA or AAA battery, or one that belongs to the larger categories of lead-acid or lithium-ion batteries used in cars and industrial vehicles.
The energy produced by batteries has been supporting human activity for many years and continues to evolve, with ever more high-performing solutions. From the voltaic pile to the electric-car battery, this device has become part of our day-to-day life, bringing with it ever more industries that are going electric in order to achieve greater efficiency and reduce their environmental impact.
Everyone is familiar with them and everyone uses them, but few people think to ask about the origin and evolution of batteries. What better occasion, then, to explore their history, than on International Battery Day?
THE INVENTION OF THE VOLTAIC PILE: THE FIRST ANCESTOR OF THE MODERN BATTERY
International Battery Day is celebrated every year on 18 February, a date not chosen at random: 18 February 1745 saw the birth, in Como, of the Italian chemist and physicist who invented the first static electricity generator ever made, the voltaic pile. He was Alessandro Giuseppe Anastasio Volta, a scientist who, in December 1799, after years of electrochemical research and experiments, created the first prototype of the modern battery in the laboratory at his home in Lazzate, in the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is preserved to this day at the University History Museum of the University of Pavia.
How does Volta’s pile work?
The voltaic pile invented by Alessandro Volta works according to the principle of the galvanic cell: it consists of a column of several similar elements stacked on top of each other (alternating zinc and copper discs separated by a layer of cloth soaked in water and sulfuric acid), known as voltaic elements. Connecting the two ends, or poles, of the pile by means of an electric conductor creates a circuit through which a continuous current flow, thereby producing energy independently of the electrical network.
The invention of the pile was made known to the scientific community by Volta himself, in a letter of 20 March 1800 addressed to the President of the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences, the Royal Society of London. The letter was then published in the prestigious journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, meaning Volta would go down in history as the father of this ground-breaking invention.
Did you know that the Volt, the unit used to measure electric potential difference, takes its name from Alessandro Volta in honour of his great invention?
THE EVOLUTION OF THE VOLTAIC PILE: THE BATTERY
While the pile was certainly a brilliant invention, it had a not insignificant problem: it could not be recharged. Therefore, once it had run out, the entire process had to be carried out again from the beginning. The potential was vast, however, and it is the farsightedness behind the concept of the pile that enabled this first prototype to evolve, transforming over time (after going through various different stages) into the battery we all know today.
Any discussion about batteries covers a whole world of different chemical elements, capacities and solutions developed to suit the specific needs of the most diverse applications, from industrial machinery and equipment to domestic and personal use.
The battery has undergone various different phases, from the now-outdated lead-acid battery to the most recent lithium-ion battery, available in myriad different chemicals, up to the even more advanced latest generation of batteries, such as the much-debated solid-state battery, which is still in the research phase. This constantly evolving technology will continue to shape our lives for many years to come, driven by continual technological advances and research aimed at making the battery ever more efficient.
The birth of lead-acid batteries
The first descendant of the voltaic pile was the lead-acid battery, the first version of this technology to really take off. The lead-acid battery was invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté and had an enormous advantage for its time: it was rechargeable, meaning that it could be used many times and, if necessary, restored to its full state of charge.
It initially consisted of two lead sheets rolled into a spiral, separated by a rubber strip and immersed in a glass jar of sulfuric acid electrolyte. This technology was perfected over time thanks to the intervention of chemical engineer Camille Alphonse Faure, who invented a much simpler version that could be mass produced. It consisted of a lead grid lattice, into which a lead oxide paste was pressed, forming a plate. Lead-acid batteries have since undergone further improvements, but have remained conceptually very close to the original prototype.
Though still used in many internal combustion engine cars and some industrial vehicles, the lead-acid battery is now an obsolete choice that is extremely limited in terms of efficiency and performance, due in particular to its low energy density, severely limited life cycle, long recharge times and heavy weight, not to mention the fact that lead-acid batteries require constant maintenance to function at their best. In many sectors, therefore, such batteries have been gradually phased out, leaving room for the number one technology of the new millennium: lithium batteries.
The invention of lithium batteries
Little more than 40 years old, the lithium battery was born in 1979 and was immediately seen as truly revolutionary. Indeed, in 2019 the founding fathers of this technology, Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough and Akira Yoshino, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating a true instrument of change, which completely upended our way of life in a very short space of time.
Lithium batteries are used to provide energy to most tools, electronic devices, smartphones, tablets, PCs and watches, as well as bicycles, scooters, cars, and industrial vehicles and machinery belonging to a wide range of sectors. In other words, most of the items we use every day run on energy supplied by lithium-ion batteries.
What does a lithium cell look like?
The lithium cells we use today are made up of two electrodes: the cathode and the anode. The first is the so-called positive pole of the battery, made up of cathodic material (LFP, NMC, LMO, etc.) and a current collector. The anode, i.e. the negative pole of the battery, is made up of anodic material (e.g. carbon or graphite) and the current collector. These are isolated by a central separator, a thin layer of ceramic or plastic polymer, and immersed in an electrolyte, an organic liquid that fills the internal volume of the cell, covering the electrodes and allowing the lithium ions to move between the two poles.
The reasons that made the lithium battery the leading technology in the transition to electrification are many and varied, but we will try to summarise eight of the main advantages that distinguish it from its lead-acid predecessor:
- High energy efficiency (96%)
- Quick recharging, with a full charge taking just two hours
- Possibility of charges and partial charges that increase battery life
- Zero maintenance, which also means no structural costs
- High energy density, thus the capacity to store a lot of energy within a small volume and low weight
- Long operational life, which means thousands of charge cycles
- Reduced weight, about five times lighter than a lead-acid battery
- The possibility to choose different lithium-based chemicals depending on the vehicle or device you need to electrify
The lithium battery is a technology that is high-performing and efficient in all respects, has been tested and validated in the most diverse environments, and has literally changed our perceptions and habits, becoming a silent companion in our day-to-day lives.
BUT HOW WERE LITHIUM BATTERIES BORN AND WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE THEM STAND OUT? WE’LL LET THE THREE FOUNDING FATHERS EXPLAIN
The history of lithium batteries begins in the 1970s, at the height of the energy crisis, when the search for alternatives to fossil fuels was high on the agenda.
Stanley Whittingham and the discovery of the potential of lithium
The researcher Stanley Whittingham, who was very active on this front, especially in the field of superconductor research, realised that lithium, the third element in the Periodic Table, had an electrochemical potential that made it an extremely powerful component. It was the lightest known metal and the solid element with the lowest density, and its high electrochemical potential meant that it offered excellent energy performance and low weight.
This gave him the idea to produce a battery in which the anode was made partially of lithium metal (which, due to its structure, is easily able to lose its electrons) and the cathode was made of titanium disulfide, which, at the molecular level, has spaces that the lithium ions can fill. The battery had a high potential difference (a little over 2 Volts) and good energy density, and worked well at room temperature. The main problem that Whittingham encountered was with safety: the reactivity of the lithium metal meant there was a high risk of short circuit.
John Goodenough and the increase in battery power
Further developments were made to this technology in 1980 by the German-born chemist John Goodenough, who first theorised and then developed a battery with a cobalt oxide cathode, which was able to increase the battery’s potential difference to 4 Volts. This discovery gave the battery a higher energy density, reduced weight and high capacity. This fundamental step laid the foundations for the electrical mobility of the future.
Akira Yoshino and the first lithium battery
It was the Japanese chemist and engineer Akira Yoshino who designed the first lithium battery prototype to officially go on sale in 1985. Instead of using reactive lithium in the anode, it used petroleum coke, a carbon material that can absorb lithium ions like the cobalt oxide of the cathode.
Unlike the other batteries that had been made up to that time, which were based on chemical reactions that damaged the elements making up the cell, this new lithium battery enabled the lithium ions to truly flow between anode and cathode.
The result? A light battery with good energy density which, most importantly, could be recharged hundreds of times. Yoshino patented the battery in 1985 and it was commercialised by Sony in 1991, which gave rise to mass production and heralded a new era for communication and mobility.
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Partial reproduction of the article gently released by Flash battery.
