An overview of Primary Alkaline Battery

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Alkaline battery is an improved from of the dry cell. It is introduced in 1949. In this cell, NH4Cl is replaced by KOH as the electrolyte. As the electrolyte in this cell is an alkali, it is called alkaline battery.

Primary Alkaline Battery

Anode : Zinc

Cathode : Carbon/MnO2

Electrolyte : KOH

In this cell, the cathode is made from a mixture of manganese dioxide and carbon. The anode mix consists of alkaline electrolyte, zinc powder and starch. The alkaline cell derives power from the oxidation of zinc (anode) and the reduction of Mno2 (cathode). The cell reactions are:

Alkaline battery

Fig (1) Alkaline battery

Anode Zn(s) + 2OH —(aq) → Zn (OH)2(S) + 2e
Cathode 2MnO2(s) +H2O(1) +2e– → Mn2O3(s)+ 2OH—(aq)
 Over all reaction: Zn(s) + 2 MnO2(s) + H2O(1) → Zn(OH)2(s) + Mn2O3(s)

The alkaline cell gives a voltage of 1 volt to 1.5 volt.

Advantages of alkaline battery

  1. Zinc does not dissolve readily in a basic medium.
  2. Its output capacity is high.
  3. The life of alkaline battery is longer, since there is no corrosion of Zn.

Uses :
(i) It is used in calculators, watches etc.
(ii) It is used in camera exposure control.

Lithium battery

Lithium battery is a solid state battery because solid electrolyte is used in this battery not a solution or a paste.

In this battery the anode is lithium and the cathode is made of TiS2 . The solid electrolyte used is polymer, which permits the passage of ions but not that of electrons.

TiS2 is reduced by lithium. The formation of TiS2 signifies that the Li + ions enters the TiS2  lattice.

The various cell reactions taking place in the Li/TiS2 battery are:

At anode : Li(s) → Li+ + e
At cathode : TiS2(s) + e → TiS2
The overall cell reaction is :
Li(s) + TiS2(s) → Li+ + TiS2 → LiTiS2
Solid state
Fig (2) Solid state Li/TiS2 battery

This cell produces a cell voltage of . It is also a type of rechargeable battery.

Recharging the battery

The lithium battery is recharged by supplying an external current which drives the lithium ions back to the anode. The overall reaction is :

LiTiS2Li + TiS2

Other secondary lithium batteries

  • Li/MnO
  • Li/V2O5
  • Li/MoO2
  • Li/Cr3O8

Advantages and disadvantages of lithium battery

Advantages Disadvantages
1. Lithium cell have high voltages upto about 3V. 1. Li battery is more expensive than other batteries.
2. Lithium metal is light weight and has good conductivity. 2. It is very delicate.
3. There is no risk of leakage from the battery, since all the constituents of the battery are solids.
4. The energy output of a lithium cell is 2-4 times better than other primary batteries.

Uses

It is used in safety devices, cameras, laptops, computers and many other consumer electronic devices.

Read More Topics
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Santhakumar Raja

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