Development of a Rechargeable Battery Technology - Term Paper Example

An evaluation of the application of study skills Name: Course: Lecturer: Institution: City & State: Date: Development of a Rechargeable Battery Technology Abstract A group of one or more electrochemical cells refers to rechargeable battery or storage battery. Because the electrochemical cells have electrochemical reactions that are reversible, then, these rechargeable batteries are secondary cells. In addition, the rechargeable batteries have different categories that include different sizes, and shapes. A number of rechargeable batteries may be put in a series or parallel connection to prove the required amount power for a given system (Linden, D. et al, 2002, p 12). To some extent, rechargeable batteries have a positive effect to depletion of the environment and lower the total cost of use compared to the disposable batteries, which have a greater negative impact to the environment and have a higher total cost of use. The focus in this report is show the ideal understanding of the development of the rechargeable battery technology. This report will entail the history and the development of the rechargeable battery, the environmental impacts, advantages and disadvantages of using the technology, and give recommendations that need to have adjustments dealing with this technology. Introduction The development of the rechargeable battery technology retraces back to the 1859 invention of Georges Leclanche, a French engineer. This was the first development of the rechargeable technology, which he made lead acid battery that was rechargeable. In the recent past, researchers have faced significant challenges concerning the development of how they can construct a rechargeable battery that has minimal loss in energy capacity. The use of nanotechnology in the recent past has used in the field has proved to give significant result that is appealing to the need. This development has shown that only two minutes are necessary to charge a lithium ion battery to about 90% of the battery charge. Use of lithium air battery is another area of research, which has a cathode made of material that uses the oxygen in the surrounding area and a lithium anode. As a result in this reaction lithium oxide or peroxide is formed while releasing energy, this occurs when oxygen mixes with lithium. This technology increases substantially the energy density available in the battery for use. Another research showed that nanoparticles used improved the electrical conductivity, therefore, could be very powerful for the development of the rechargeable battery. Through this technology, the use of nanomaterials would greatly improve the flow of ions from one electrode to the other. All this research owes to the replacement of the petrol drives to develop a battery that can sustain a drive as petrol. In essence, this technology is most important in that it aims at reducing the environmental effects caused by other sources of electric power. In the fight to reduce the rate of pollution, many rechargeable batteries are under development in different forms to reduce the flow of the batteries that pose a danger to the environment in the market. For example, the use portable radios, torches, lamps, watches, and calculators amongst other portable devices, they are equipped with rechargeable batteries. In as much as the rechargeable batteries have their economic impact, there are alternatives that can much the same as the rechargeable batteries to store charge. These alternatives may include the use of utracapacitrors. This alternative has a drawback in that the terminal voltage declines easily as compared to the rechargeable batteries. Since 2005, there have been major developments to build a better rechargeable battery from different researchers. In 2007, Yi Cui and his group realized that silicon nanowires when used as the anode of the lithium ion battery could increase the anodes’ volumetric charge density. In addition, the development of thin paper that involves combining lithium polymer and thin film solar cell develops a better rechargeable battery. This report focuses on the understanding skills on the development of the rechargeable battery as learned. Objectives The main aim of writing this report is to determine my understanding skills on the use of rechargeable battery technology. Through the knowledge of the rechargeable battery technology, I may be able to interpret the needs that are necessary in case I want to develop a new model of rechargeable battery. In addition, the use of the rechargeable battery technology would enable other learners who so wish to develop such technology to build a more advanced rechargeable battery technology Literature review Nickel-Cadnium (NiCd) being the first generation batteries have been in the market 1.2 V, which is inferior to 1.5 V of the alkaline batteries. This showed an annoyance to the users since they would never be fully charged. With time, advancement in technology gave birth to the development of the better rechargeable batteries that can store charge for a reasonable period as compared to that of NiCd. To replace the memory problem caused by the use of NiCd batteries came the nickel metal hydride technology (NiMH), this wiped the theory of the rechargeable batteries. The use of NiMH was not all that up to date but had some issues with the low battery warning. This gave way to the use of Li-ion battery currently used in cells phones, which shows that there is a need to develop a better rechargeable battery that can supply power to a given appliance for at least 30 days without discharging. Charging and discharging The process of charging rechargeable battery includes oxidation of the positive active material to produce electrons. As a result, this reduces the negative material thus consuming the electrons. The electrons released are responsible for the current that flows to the external circuit. The use of electrolyte helps in the flow of electrons, which acts as a simple buffer for the flow of ions across the electrodes. Examples of such cells include lithium ion cells or lead acid cells amongst others. In order to have enough storage in the rechargeable battery there are different types of chargers that help in charging, and to determine when battery is fully charged and the charging can be disconnected to store charge in the battery. Rapid chargers can take approximately few minutes and to an extend of several hours. Some other chargers can charge even to about 15minutes, for example, NiMH batteries. In such cases, for fast chargers they need to have means to detect full charge in the battery, that is, in terms of voltage and temperature. In most cases, the multi-cell batteries may experience damage due to reverse charging if the battery fully discharged (Katerina, et al, 2010). Therefore, these batteries need to have battery chargers that can optimize the available current in the rechargeable battery. It is necessary that the battery manufactures’ technical note to have the charging process that they use on a given battery for charging. For example, when you want to charge a 12 V battery, which contains 6 cells with each of 2 V. When charging such battery at 2.3 VPC (volts per cell) it requires use of 13.8 V across the terminals of the battery. Depth of discharge This is the rate of the nominal ampere-hour capacity usually measured as a percentage; when it is 0%, it means that the battery has not discharged. The rate of depth of discharge can vary with time depending on the rate, which the battery is working in delivering current. Since the battery has many uses the ultimate capacity that the battery can deliver is the correct value that the battery needs to drawn over a certain period to avoid the depletion of the battery system. Reverse charging When a discharged cell experiences a current flow that is in the opposite direction as that of charging, it tends to discharge the battery, and this is reverse charging. Reverse charging damages the cell. This can occur in two most common circumstances, which include first connection of the battery on the charging circuit in the wrong way. Secondly, for the case of a battery that has several cells connected in a series connection being totally discharged. In order to understand the rechargeable technology, it is necessary to know the levels at which the battery should discharge and not to go beyond such points. For example, when a cell discharges completely a head of the others in the battery, it causes reverse discharge to the other live cells with a reverse current. This can also occur in weak cell, that is, the cells that not fully discharged. In most cases, the internal resistance of the cell caused by high drain of the current from the battery may experience the reverse voltage. As a result, this reverses the weak cell’s polarity allowing the current across the terminals of the battery via the cells. These reactions on the cells may lead to shortening the life of the battery that has experienced such charges in charging and discharging. Therefore, it is important to understand that the rate of discharging the battery is proportional to the level of charge present in the battery and thus should be in both charge and the cell. In aircraft, this incident can be avoided by connecting the load clip of the aircraft across the battery terminals and this prevents reversal charging, thereby charging the cells. Development of the rechargeable battery The construction of the rechargeable battery can include different materials though some other materials are still under test. Such materials necessary for the development of the rechargeable battery include lead sheets, copper electrodes or any other good conductor that may usable as an electrode (Kang & Ceder, 2009). However, carbon electrodes are in most cases the best, since they are not easily reduced when immersed in the electrolyte. An electrolyte is a solution that has free ions that carry the electric charges from the anode to the cathode. The following materials are required for the development of a rechargeable battery: electrolyte, electrode (copper and carbon electrodes), connection wires, external power source like a solar panel, a salt bridge and containment (for example, two beakers). Connection of the experimental setup: put the electrolyte in the two beakers. Ensure that the electrolyte has correct ionization rate to allow free flow of electrons. Insert the two electrodes in each of the beakers, the anode side to use copper and the cathode side to use carbon electrode. This is because copper is easily reduced by carbon thus releasing electrons in the electrolyte. During the charging process redox reaction takes place thus powering the battery whereby there is an addition of electrons at the cathode. In the anode the anions are oxidized, that there is th removal of electrons. Always, it is important to check that the electrodes are not physically into contact but they are connected via an electrolyte. The diagram below shows a connection of a simple rechargeable battery system. Advantages and Disadvantages of using rechargeable batteries At the long run the use of rechargeable batteries have a lower total cost of use than using the disposable batteries. In addition, the use of rechargeable battery technology indicates positive effect in the depletion of the environment, which makes it easy to dispose incase the battery is old. Rechargeable battery material are recyclable thus there is less disposing of the materials to the environment (Sequeira, 2002). Lastly, the rechargeable batteries are rechargeable very cheaply and thus their use is continuous when recharged. Though the rechargeable batteries have more advantages than the disposable batteries, they have higher initial cost. Therefore, the higher cost results to many electrochemical users from investing in the rechargeable battery technology thus referring to the use of disposable batteries that are cheap to purchase. Discussion Different types of rechargeable batteries have been in the market thereby posing competition amongst different manufactures to develop a new type of batteries that are more reliable. The table below shows different types of rechargeable batteries and their different requirements for charging. NiCd Alkaline Li-ion Main brand Many Many Li-ion Technology NiCd Alkaline Li-ion Rechargeable Y Y Y Rating mAh 2300 2500 N/A Current High Low High Charge type General Special dedicated For the Li-ion charger type, its dedicated meaning that there is no need to remove or disconnect the battery for charging you simply need to connect the charger to the phone. Recommendations Rechargeable batteries are the most reliable source of power for use in the electrical appliances within the household thus; people should focus on the use of them. In essence, the rechargeable battery technology should be made available to the locals and all electrical users to have a clear definition on the importance of using this technology. For example, the industries use rechargeable batteries as their back system in case there is power surge or black out from the mains from the national grid. Therefore, it is necessary for the industries that do not have rechargeable batteries to acquire the necessary technology to use these rechargeable batteries as their back systems to ensure continuous production. Conclusions In the recent past, there have been advances in technology that most scientists have ventured in to identify the best technology to apply when planning to develop the rechargeable battery technology. These advancements include the venture in the use of nanotechnology as a new means to attain the efficient rechargeable battery that the market needs. In this report the main objective has been attained, therefore, the technology development needs to have a backup plan on how to define the required resources in the developing better rechargeable battery. References Linden, D. et al, 2002, Handbook Of Batteries 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York. Katerina E. A. et al, 2010, High Energy Density Lithium Batteries: Materials, Engineering, Applications Wiley-VCH, New York. Sequeira, C. A. 2002, Solid state batteries. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Scientific Affairs Division, vol. 1, no 12, Pages 242-247. Kang, B. and Ceder, G. 2009, Battery materials for ultrafast charging and dischargingMcGraw-Hill, New York. Leonard F. 1989, Modern Practice of the Electric Telegraph 15th Edition, Nostrand Company, New York. Read More