A battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections

provided to power electrical devices such as flashlights, mobile phones, and electric cars.[1] When a
battery is supplying electric power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negative terminal is
the anode.[2] The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons that will flow through an
external electric circuit to the positive terminal. When a battery is connected to an external electric
load, a redox reaction converts high-energy reactants to lower-energy products, and the free-
energy difference is delivered to the external circuit as electrical energy.[3] Historically the term
"battery" specifically referred to a device composed of multiple cells, however the usage has evolved
to include devices composed of a single cell.[4]
Primary (single-use or "disposable") batteries are used once and discarded; the electrode materials
are irreversibly changed during discharge. Common examples are the alkaline battery used for
flashlights and a multitude of portable electronic devices. Secondary (rechargeable) batteries can be
discharged and recharged multiple times using an applied electric current; the original composition
of the electrodes can be restored by reverse current. Examples include the lead-acid batteries used
in vehicles and lithium-ion batteries used for portable electronics such as laptops and mobile
phones.
Batteries come in many shapes and sizes, from miniature cells used to power hearing aids and
wristwatches to small, thin cells used in smartphones, to large lead acid batteries or lithium-ion
batteries in vehicles, and at the largest extreme, huge battery banks the size of rooms that provide
standby or emergency power for telephone exchanges and computer data centers.
According to a 2005 estimate, the worldwide battery industry generates US$48 billion in sales each
year,[5] with 6% annual growth.
Batteries have much lower specific energy (energy per unit mass) than common fuels such as
gasoline. In automobiles, this is somewhat offset by the higher efficiency of electric motors in
converting chemical energy to mechanical work, compared to combustion engines.

Contents

 1History
 2Principle of operation
 3Categories and types of batteries
o 3.1Primary
o 3.2Secondary
o 3.3Cell types
o 3.4Cell performance
 4Capacity and discharge
o 4.1C rate
o 4.2Fast-charging, large and light batteries
 5Lifetime
o 5.1Self-discharge
o 5.2Corrosion
o 5.3Physical component changes
o 5.4Charge/discharge speed
o 5.5Overcharging
o 5.6Memory effect
o 5.7Environmental conditions
o 5.8Storage
 6Battery sizes
 7Hazards
o 7.1Explosion
o 7.2Leakage
o 7.3Toxic materials
o 7.4Ingestion
 8Chemistry
o 8.1Primary batteries and their characteristics
o 8.2Secondary (rechargeable) batteries and their characteristics
 9Solid state batteries
 10Homemade cells
 11See also
 12References
 13Further reading
 14External links

History
Main article: History of the battery

A voltaic pile, the first battery

Italian physicist Alessandro Volta demonstrating his pile to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

The usage of "battery" to describe a group of electrical devices dates to Benjamin Franklin, who in
1748 described multiple Leyden jars by analogy to a battery of cannon[6] (Benjamin Franklin
borrowed the term "battery" from the military, which refers to weapons functioning together[7]).
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta built and described the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic
pile, in 1800.[8] This was a stack of copper and zinc plates, separated by brine-soaked paper disks,
that could produce a steady current for a considerable length of time. Volta did not understand that
the voltage was due to chemical reactions. He thought that his cells were an inexhaustible source of
energy,[9] and that the associated corrosion effects at the electrodes were a mere nuisance, rather
than an unavoidable consequence of their operation, as Michael Faraday showed in 1834.[10]
Although early batteries were of great value for experimental purposes, in practice their voltages
fluctuated and they could not provide a large current for a sustained period. The Daniell cell,
invented in 1836 by British chemist John Frederic Daniell, was the first practical source of electricity,
becoming an industry standard and seeing widespread adoption as a power source for electrical
telegraph networks.[11] It consisted of a copper pot filled with a copper sulfate solution, in which was
immersed an unglazed earthenware container filled with sulfuric acid and a zinc electrode.[12]
These wet cells used liquid electrolytes, which were prone to leakage and spillage if not handled
correctly. Many used glass jars to hold their components, which made them fragile and potentially
dangerous. These characteristics made wet cells unsuitable for portable appliances. Near the end of
the nineteenth century, the invention of dry cell batteries, which replaced the liquid electrolyte with a
paste, made portable electrical devices practical.[13]

Principle of operation
Main article: Electrochemical cell

A voltaic cell for demonstration purposes. In this example the two half-cells are linked by a salt bridge that
permits the transfer of ions.

Batteries convert chemical energy directly to electrical energy. In many cases, the electrical energy
released is the difference in the cohesive [14] or bond energies of the metals, oxides, or molecules
undergoing the electrochemical reaction.[3] For instance, energy can be stored in Zn or Li, which are
high-energy metals because they are not stabilized by d-electron bonding, unlike transition metals.
Batteries are designed such that the energetically favorable redox reaction can occur only if
electrons move through the external part of the circuit.
A battery consists of some number of voltaic cells. Each cell consists of two half-cells connected in
series by a conductive electrolyte containing metal cations. One half-cell includes electrolyte and the
negative electrode, the electrode to which anions (negatively charged ions) migrate; the other half-
cell includes electrolyte and the positive electrode, to which cations (positively charged ions)
migrate. Cations are reduced (electrons are added) at the cathode, while metal atoms are oxidized
(electrons are removed) at the anode.[15] Some cells use different electrolytes for each half-cell; then
a separator is used to prevent mixing of the electrolytes while allowing ions to flow between half-cells
to complete the electrical circuit.
Each half-cell has an electromotive force (emf, measured in volts) relative to a standard. The net emf
of the cell is the difference between the emfs of its half-cells.[16] Thus, if the electrodes have
emfs and , then the net emf is ; in other words, the net emf is the difference between
the reduction potentials of the half-reactions.[17]

The electrical driving force or across the terminals of a cell is known as the terminal voltage
(difference) and is measured in volts.[18] The terminal voltage of a cell that is neither charging nor
discharging is called the open-circuit voltage and equals the emf of the cell. Because of internal
resistance,[19] the terminal voltage of a cell that is discharging is smaller in magnitude than the open-
circuit voltage and the terminal voltage of a cell that is charging exceeds the open-circuit
voltage.[20] An ideal cell has negligible internal resistance, so it would maintain a constant terminal

voltage of until exhausted, then dropping to zero. If such a cell maintained 1.5 volts and
produce a charge of one coulomb then on complete discharge it would have performed 1.5 joules of
work.[18] In actual cells, the internal resistance increases under discharge[19] and the open-circuit
voltage also decreases under discharge. If the voltage and resistance are plotted against time, the
resulting graphs typically are a curve; the shape of the curve varies according to the chemistry and
internal arrangement employed.
The voltage developed across a cell's terminals depends on the energy release of the chemical
reactions of its electrodes and electrolyte. Alkaline and zinc–carbon cells have different chemistries,
but approximately the same emf of 1.5 volts; likewise NiCd and NiMH cells have different
chemistries, but approximately the same emf of 1.2 volts.[21] The high electrochemical potential
changes in the reactions of lithium compounds give lithium cells emfs of 3 volts or more.[22]