Invention and Evolution of Batteries, Research Paper Example

The first liquid cell batteries were containers that maintained metal electrodes and liquid electrolytes.  As the electrodes dissolved in the electrolyte, the wet cell was recharged by changing the electrodes.  The first batteries which had been produced were open and not adaptable for mobile usage.  The first electric cars applied liquid cells which were sealed.  Once the metal electrodes dissolved in the electrolytes, the batteries were not able to receive or give an electrical charge.  The production of the lead acid battery and the conventional lithium iron phosphate batteries enabled the categories of electrical charge to be stored in the battery cell, enabling the saving of energy for future use (Oschman, 2015).  The invention and evolution of the electrical battery was explored in this essay.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States and a leading researcher in the eighteenth century, applied the term of battery to a collection of connected resistors that had been applied in his electrical experiments.  The resistors were glass in composition which had a coating of a metallic alloy in the glass surface.  Connecting the resistors provided them with additional power.   The first genuine battery had been invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800.  The battery was made from zinc and copper washers that were placed on top of each other.  The copper and zinc washers were separated by pieces of cardboard soaked in acid.  The battery had been able to develop a constant current, although it could not produce sparks.  Volta discovered that zinc and silver produced the best battery.  The Volta battery had been modified over the years (Dell & Rand, 2001; Oschman, 2015).

In the modern era, batteries have gained greater importance.  Today many people are interested in reducing energy consumption and recycling in order to enable the Earth to recover from the pollution.  In many of the nations of the world, incentives have been given to consumers for purchasing electrical vehicles.  The electrical vehicles are powered by portable batteries.  The electrical vehicles have shown that they demonstrate a number of advantages over gasoline powered vehicles.  However, due to the attribute that the electrical battery is the center of the electrical automobile, the electrical batteries have not been promoted due to their high costs.  The cost quality could be changed in the near future as a result of innovation (Dell & Rand, 2001; Oschman, 2015).

Lithium – ion battery cells are widely used today.  The lithium- ion batteries can be found min cell phones, batteries laptops and PDAs.  The lithium ion battery has enabled the development of many of the devices that are taken for granted today.  The lithium ion batteries are a substantial improvement from the batteries that has been used by Benjamin Franklin and Alessandro Volta.  There are innovations which are being made to the conventional lithium ion battery technology.  These innovations are being made regarding weight, energy production cost, safety and durability (Dell & Rand, 2001).

In addition, the lithium- ion batteries have enabled the production of a number of technological innovations due to their light weight.  The lithium- ion batteries are one-sixth of the weight of the traditional nickel ion batteries.  In addition, the lithium batteries have a greater ability to hold their electrical charge.  The lithium- ion battery suffers a monthly energy loss of 5 %, whereas the nickel metal hydride batteries lose one- fifth of their energy every month.  The lithium- ion batteries are more efficient and they do not have a memory effect.  The memory effect implies that the battery must be completely drained of its power in ordered to receive a recharge.  There are presently innovations that are taking place in order to improve the efficiency of the lithium- ion battery.  Lithium- sulfur batteries are also a battery which has been gaining popularity.  The increased popularity of the lithium sulfur battery is due to the large amount of sulfur that is found on Earth.  The abundance of sulfur causes the lithium ion battery to cost less.  The present challenge with the lithium- sulfur batteries is that they cannot receive a substantial amount of recharges before they exhaust their energy storage capacity.  This defect is due to the leakage of polysulfide material into the battery (Shen et al., 2015).

Furthermore, at Stanford University, Dr. Yi Cui who is a specialist in engineering and material sciences has found a novel way to encase the polysulfide in the lithium- sulfur batteries and enable them to discharge for thousands of cycles.  Dr. Cui had been able to accomplish this by the introduction of round nanoparticles which have a titanium coating.  The titanium coating around the polysulfide shell is designed to encase the polysulfide.  The new invention could enable a number of new inventions which are powered by the new lithium sulfide batteries in the near future (Shen et al., 2015).

 Conclusion

Batteries are very important in society.  The batteries serve the use of enabling the storage of energy.  Many of the recent innovations have been made possible due to the lithium- ion batteries.  The new lithium- sulfide batteries should enable a new generation of devices.  These devices will have a more effective quality due to the increased efficiency of the lithium- sulfide power supply.

References

Dell, R. M. & Rand, D. A. J. (2001). Understanding Batteries. Cambridge, UK: The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Oschman, J. L. (2015). Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis (Second edition). New York, NY: Elsevier.

Shen, S., Li, X. & Linje, Z. (2015). Precursor controlled synthesis of nanocarbons for lithium- ion batteries. In X. Feng (Ed.), Nanocarbons for Advanced Energy Storage, Volume 1. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley- VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.