The Search For Better Batteries Goes On Lately, one of the things which have been taking center stage are batteries and their technology. Batteries have come a long way since they were first discovered. When the Bagdad battery was discovered, it set the scientific world on its ear. Here was a battery invented about 250 B.C. Think about that, it was built about 250 years before Christ was born. The big question was why and how could people from that time period even know what electricity was, never mind how to use it. There have been many guesses on how it could have been used in those days, and the consensus is for plating jewelry. There is also the idea maybe it was used somehow as a magical cure for some injuries or for the paranormal. It was a simple battery, and leads to the question could there have been even older batteries? It could put out a weak current which seemed to last about two weeks. With the extensive use of electricity in our society, better and longer lasting batteries could change our world. When most of us think of what device would benefit the most from a better battery, we automatically think of the electric car. There has been a lot of talk of electric cars which will be able to go 1,000 miles or more on a single charge some day without increasing the mass of the battery pack. It is a dream right now, but it is only a matter of time before it happens. If this could be tied in with faster charging, say about five minutes or less, and with an infrastructure which would support all the electric cars and maybe electric homes, it would change our energy needs. Getting us off the electrical grid should be one of the major steps we achieve. Each building should be capable of generating enough power to run it and if this happens, batteries will play a huge part in this. So will the means of generating this power. There was talk of solar cells which are just starting to achieve charging at night. Between those and an efficient new battery, we could achieve getting off the grid. The first modern battery was invented by Alessandro Volta. Volta had published a paper showing all the ingredients necessary for building a chemical battery. For years batteries were just play things used to make corpses jump around at side shows. Yes, that gruesome fact is correct, corpses were carried around so they could wow the crowds when the electricity made their muscles contract. I think most of us would find this disgusting today. Over the years the battery kept getting improved. Early batteries had low current which didn’t last long. The early and middle 1800s saw many improvements in batteries. The invention of the fuel cell took place in 1839. This used hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity. The first rechargeable battery was invented in 1859. The idea that a battery could be recharged was big indeed. The battery was very similar to the lead acid batteries used in cars, to start them and maintain the electrical system. This type of battery is still finding new uses such as for regeneration in hybrid and electric cars. It still has not out lived its usefulness. The first successful dry cell battery was invented in 1881. Batteries were getting more convenient to use. Throughout the 20th century battery materials kept getting better. In 1954 solar cells were invented. The Russians invented a nuclear powered battery which they claimed was not only very safe, but could be scaled up or down. We don’t seem to hear much about this. I am not sure people would want a nuclear battery near them, I know I wouldn’t. One thing which stymied battery development was power companies buying up companies which had developed better batteries to get them off the market. Giant oil companies for example didn’t want better batteries and perceived them as a threat. There are quite a few stories about great batteries being invented only to be shelved after the company was either bought out or the rights to the battery sold for a fortune. One of the areas of battery use which is being talked about improving is the batteries used in drones. This is being driven by the idea of using continuous drone flights at the border. The batteries used in small drones of this type only last a maximum of 30 minutes before being depleted. One of the answers being suggested is adding stronger batteries with the ability to be recharged wirelessly in flight. This type of technology first appeared in 2017. MIT is working on better batteries. Lithium-air batteries will eventually degrade. The university has discovered this can be stopped by encapsulation. They believe they found the cause and it is lithium superoxide. The discovery was made by accident. Battery research is going on in many other places in this country and the world. There is a battery which scientists believe would be much better for things like electric cars. You may already have a form of this battery on your person. I am talking about the battery in your watch. It is a solid state battery. There are some technical challenges. The battery would be more powerful than the lithium-ion batteries and safer if it could be perfected for use in cars and storing energy from solar panels. The idea would be to add a little amount of liquid electrolyte to them. A researcher said, "Solid-state batteries have the potential to be safer, and they have the potential for higher energy density." Sometimes we don’t realize something we already use can be used for something else or be modified to perform a different task. It was thought adding electrolyte to a solid state battery would make it dangerous, but this turned out not to be true. It does make one wonder if there are other special batteries, we should examine with the goal of either scaling them up or down, or doing things to improve them so they can be used in other situations. Sometimes it is more practical to examine what already exists for better uses. Batteries have come a long way. They seem to be an ancient invention. They still have a long way to go, but they are getting there. Someday we may have a battery which will last forever because it will be self- charging using light or some other means to keep the charge going. Nissan has announced a partnership with NASA and batteries are being developed which will use cheaper materials and be able to fully charge in 15 minutes. They will also only weigh half as much and the pilot program is said to start in 2024 with manufacture by 2028.
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