When was the battery invented?
Napoleon helped with the experiments, drawing sparks from
the battery, melting a steel wire, discharging an electric pistol and decomposing water into its elements.
Sir Humphry Davy, inventor of the miner’s safety lamp, made new discoveries when he installed the largest and most powerful electric battery in the vaults of the Royal Institution of London. He connected the battery to charcoal electrodes and produced the first
electric light. Witnesses reported that his voltaic arc lamp produced “the most brilliant ascending arch of light ever seen”.
After Galvani’s successful experiments and the discovery of the voltaic cell, interest in galvanic electricity became widespread. Davy began to test the chemical effects of electricity in 1800 and soon found that by passing electrical current through some substances, decomposition occurred, a process later called electrolysis.
The generated voltage was directly related to the reactivity of the electrolyte with the metal. Davy understood that the actions of electrolysis and the voltaic cell were the same.
In 1802, Dr William Cruickshank designed the first electric battery capable of mass production. Cruickshank arranged square sheets of copper with equal sheet sizes of zinc. These sheets were placed into a long rectangular wooden box and soldered together. Grooves in the box held the metal plates in position. The sealed box was then filled with an electrolyte of brine, or watered down acid, resembling the flooded battery that is still with us today.
In 1836, John F Daniell, an English chemist, developed an improved battery that produced a steadier current than Volta’s device. Until then, all batteries were primary, meaning that they could not be recharged. In 1859, the French physician Gaston Plate invented the first rechargeable battery. It was based on lead acid, a system that is still used today.
In 1899, Waldmar Jungner from Sweden invented the nickel-cadmium battery (NiCd), which used nickel for the positive electrode and cadmium for the negative. Two years later, Thomas Edison produced an alternative design by replacing cadmium with iron.
High material costs compared with dry cells or lead acid systems limited the practical applications of the nickel-cadmium and nickel-iron batteries. It was not before Shlecht and Ackermann achieved major improvements by inventing the sintered pole plate in 1932 that NiCd gained new attention.
This resulted in higher load currents and improved longevity. The breakthrough came in 1947 when Neumann succeeded in sealing the nickel-cadmium cell.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the attention was on nickel-based chemistries. Concerned about environmental contamination if NiCd was carelessly disposed, Europe began restricting this chemistry and asked the industry to switch to nickel metal hydride (NiMH). Many say that the NiMH is an interim step to lithium-ion (Li-ion), and this may well be true.
Much of the research activities focused on improving lithium-ion. Besides powering mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, tools and medical devices, Li-ion is also a candidate for vehicles.
Li-ion has a number of benefits including a higheiAenergy density, is easier to charge and does not have maintenance issues unlike nickel-based batteries. Nor does Li-ion suffer from sulfation, which is common with lead-based systems.
Electricity through magnetism, an alternative method of generating electricity to static charge and battery, came relatively late. In 1820, Andre-Marie Ampere (1775-1836) noticed that wires carrying an electric current were at times attracted to, and at other times repelled from, one another.
In 1831, Michael Faraday (1791-1867) demonstrated how a copper disc provided a constant flow of electricity while revolving in a strong magnetic field. Faraday, assisting Davy and his research team, succeeded in generating an endless electrical force as long as the movement between a coil and magnet continued. This led to the invention of the electric generator.
By simply reversing the process, the electric motor was discovered. Shortly thereafter, transformers were developed that could convert alternating current (AC) to any desired voltage. In 1833, Faraday established the foundation of electrochemistry that led to Faraday’s Law.
Once the relationship with magnetism was discovered in the mid-1800s, large generators began producing a steady flow of electricity. Motors followed that enabled mechanical movement and the Edison light bulb appeared to conquer darkness.
Three-phase AC technology developed by Nikola Tesla enabled transmission lines to carry electric power over great distances. Electricity was thus made available to humanity to improve overall quality of life.
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