Evolution of Battery Technology: The First Rechargeable Battery (Part 2)

10 min readAug 17, 2020

In the first part of the Evolution of Battery Technology series, you saw how the combined efforts of William Gilbert and Benjamin Franklin designed a blueprint by establishing the theoretical principles governing battery technology.

The blueprint was well received by Alessandro Volta who was successful in inventing the world’s first battery — Voltaic Pile. However, its imperfections paved the way for J.F Daniel’s Daniell Cell, a practical solution for common man.

Although the inventions in battery technology continued to rise, it took a while until the first rechargeable battery was invented but the invention was worth the wait. Keep reading to know how it all happened!

Prelude to The First Rechargeable Battery

Monsieur Callaud’s Gravity Cell

Daniell Cell is the first practical cell and a landmark in the evolution of battery technology. — Fig 1 — Daniell Cell [1]

In an attempt to improve the Daniell Cell (shown in Fig 1),Golding Bird created a variant in 1837 that used plaster of Paris to separate the two containers. While his setup was an improvement, it did not yield the results he desired. However, it laid the foundation for a new discipline, electrometallurgy.

Sometime between 1855 and 1870,a Frenchman Callaud found that the plaster of Paris increased the cell’s internal resistance.

So, like others, he invented the gravity cell which was his own version of the Daniell Cell which and surprisingly, was better than the original. The element of surprise was justified because his profession was (and still is) a mystery.

Callaud’s Gravity Cell was a variant and improvement of Daniell Cell. — Fig 2 — Gravity Cell by Callaud [2]

Unlike the other variants, the gravity cell is unique because the separation of liquid electrolytes occurs due to different densities and hence the name gravity cell.

As copper sulphate is denser, it is settles below and forms the bottom layer of the cell. On the other hand, zinc sulphate is less denser and floats on top of the bottom layer. Moreover, as we draw current from the cell, the chemical reaction polarizes the electrolytes towards its electrode — the electrolyte likes it electrode so much that it doesn’t want to leave.

The formation of transparent zinc sulphate crystals makes a technician’s job easy. He/she could comment on the battery’s life just by looking at it.

However, the unfortunate irony is that the cell’s advantages were its disadvantages:

The cell can only be used in for stationary applications due to its physical structure
The cell has to continuously supply current to maintain the polarity and prevent mixing of the electrolytes

The Poggendorff and Grenet cell

In 1842, Johann Christian Poggendorff, a German scientist had other plans when he designed a cell with porous earthenware pot that used a depolariser. The depolariser helped solve the problem of polarity in the gravity cell.

Strangely, the timeline of Poggendorff’s cell is blurred as he solved the polarity issue before the gravity cell was invented. However, Poggendorff’s design was incomplete until Eugene Grenet made some seemingly minor changes that turned it into a practical solution.

In the prelude to the first rechargeable battery, Eugene Grenet improved Poggendorff’s cell and desiged a practical solution. — Fig 3 — Grenet Cell [3]

As shown in Fig 3, a glass jar with a porcelain or rubber cover enclosed the cell. An anodic zinc rod was placed between the two parallelly suspended cathode rods made of carbon. The electrolyte solution was a combination of sulphuric acid and the depolariser, chromic acid. Now we know why this cell is popularly known as “chromic acid cell” or “bichromate cell”.

The cell rewarded their efforts with a terminal output voltage between 1.9–2 V and a reliable current supply for relatively long periods.

The First Rechargeable Battery

In 1859, Raymond Gaston Planté began his experiments to store electrical energy and took the shape of a battery. The first version contained:

The electrodes — Two lead sheets separated by rubber stripes and compactly rolled into a spiral and,
The electrolyte contained 10% of sulphuric acid

While both the electrodes react with the solution to produce lead suphate, the key to rechargeability lies in the direction of electron transfer. During discharge, the electrons travel produced at the anode travel to the cathode thereby producing current. On the other hand, the electrons travel from the cathode to the anode during charging. The worlds’ first rechargeable battery was born!

Eventually, the two way movement of electrons formed the basis for two new categories, namely, primary (non-rechargeable) and secondary (rechargeable) batteries.

Understandably, the first setup did not produce large amounts of current. A year later, Planté turned the tables with a battery and not a cell (read the difference here). He compiled nine individual setups from the first version to fabricate the upgraded setup.

The world’s first rechargeable battery developed by Planté. — Fig 4 — Planté’s cell [4]

Consequently, the upgraded version was bulkier but generating large currents compensated for its weight. Moreover, the internal resistance was unusually low and hence, it could supply power for multiple applications simultaneously. You may recognize this setup with the name “lead-acid battery”.

Lech

When weight is not a concern in modern day applications, we still use the improved version of Planté’s cell — automobiles are a good example.

In 1866, Georges Leclanché invented a primary cell using a liquid material called ammonium chloride that replaced the acidic electrolyte used in the previous cells. The structure of the cell is as follows:

Carbon mixed manganese dioxide cathode
A porous material to surround the cathode
Zinc anode

Leclanché Cell

Lastly, both the electrodes were dipped into the ammonium chloride solution to provide a terminal voltage output of 1.4V. Limited to laboratory applications, the primitive versions of Leclanché Cell used a liquid electrolyte and hence was a “wet” cell. Weirdly, the development of this wet Leclanché Cell was a precursor to the invention of dry cells or flashlight cells.

Dry Cell: Sequel to The First Rechargeable Battery

The wet cell with the electrolyte in liquid state caused many problems. Consequently, batteries peeked the interest of engineers, scientists, chemists, physicists and businessmen alike and the race to paralyze the liquid had begun.

Scientists from different countries conducted multiple experiments in different parts of the world. For example, Carl Gassner’s improved Leclanché Cell in Germany and the Yai dry-battery invented by Sakizou Yai in Japan.

Gassner’s Dry Cell

After invention of the Leclanché Cell, most of the door bells operated on wet Leclanché Cell in 1880s. However, the users frequently complained about the problems like, accidental spillage and the drying of liquid electrolyte.

Once again, Leclanché set out to rectify the problem. In 1876, Leclanché came up with the idea of jellyfying the electrolyte and added starch the ammonium chloride solution. Although he improved the original cell and made it more portable, it was not a sustainable solution.

Efforts continued until Carl Gassner, a German scientist and inventor started experimenting with the Leclanché cell in 1885. By 1886, he created a paste by amalgamating ammonium chloride with plaster of Paris and patented the electrolyte composition in the same year. Additionally, he also added zinc chloride to augment the shelf (working) life by reducing the corrosion levels of the zinc anode.

Gassner’s dry cell produced a voltage of 1.5 V. Also, the robustness of the cell eliminates complex maintenance unlike the prevalent wet cells.

Later in 1887, he obtained an American patent as well. Due to inclusion of the unique paste, this cell came to be known as the world’s first dry cell.

The Yai Dry Battery

Born in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture in 1863, Sakizou Yai invented the continuous electric clock, an accurate battery powered clock patented in 1891. Apparently, it was Japan’s first patent in the domain of electricity. However, the clock ran on wet batteries like Daniell Cells. Thus, Yai began working on the dry battery technology.

Yai had to overcome some major challenges in wet cells like:

Chemical leakage from electrodes
Electrode corrosion
Safety issues concerning the acid used as electrolyte

After multiple trials, he arrived at a solution and placed paraffin in a carbon rod to reduce both, electrode corrosion and chemical leakage. This seemingly minor change led to the development of dry battery in 1887 which was patented in 1892.

Yai Dry Battery invented by Sakizou Yai in 1887 — Fig 6 — Yai Dry Battery [6]

While wars are generally known for their destructive outcomes and irreparable damage, Yai’sdry battery gained recognition during the Sino-Japanese War in 1894.

In 1910, Yai went on to setup his own company that dominated the domestic Japanese market and succeeded in fending off overseas competitors. You can read more about his personal life and the company here. As a token of appreciation for his efforts, he was popularly known as the “king of the dry-battery” in Japan.

Sadly, none of Yai’s successors inherited his company thereby causing the company to vanish after 1950s.

The Zinc-Carbon Dry Cell or Columbia Dry Cell

National Carbon Company (NCC), founded in Cleveland in 1886 by Washington H. Lawrence and the corporate predecessor of Energizer Battery Company was a pioneer in manufacturing electrical products for United Sates.

NCC began marketing and manufacturing Leclanché wet cells in 1894. At the same time, E. M. Jewett, a worker in NCC’s Lakewood plant jurisdiction became interested in dry cells. He developed a six-inch cylindrical dry cell (shown in Fig 7) that could provide a voltage of 1.5 V and hence, a new dry cell was developed.

Nelson C. Cotabish, NCC’s sales manager during the time suggested the trademark name “Columbia” [7]. As NCC continued to innovate on the initial versions of the battery, they came up with an efficient setup that used a separator. Unlike in the previous setups where the paste left little room for cathode (like Gassner’s cell) that led to difficulties during assemblage, the design with a separator was extremely efficient.

Some of the traits of the Columbia Dry Cell are mentioned below:

A cardboard spiraled into a tube separated the two electrodes, anode and cathode
A paste of flour and potato starch to coat the separator
High energy density due to usage of lesser amount of carbon when compared to Gassner’s dry cell
Not affected by the physical orientation of the cell

Columbia Dry Cell was truly an invention for masses that made portable electrical devices practical and directly led to the invention of flashlight. The cell popularized the name “zinc-carbon battery” and ruled the consumer battery industry for about 60 years until a new king in the form of alkaline batteries dethroned it.

Alkaline Batteries: The New King

A Swedish scientist named Waldemar Jungner invented the first alkaline battery in 1899. The term “alkaline” indicates the use of an alkaline electrolyte (typically, potassium hydroxide solution). As a matter of fact, he invented three such batteries namely, nickel-iron battery (NiFe), nickel-cadmium battery (NiCd) and silver-cadmium battery (AgCd) of which nickel-cadmium batteries are extremely popular amongst consumers.

Essentially, Waldemar invented the first rechargeable battery using an alkaline material. However, the liquid alkaline electrolyte increased the inner pressure as well as the probability of exposition due to generation of hydrogen and oxygen gas by virtue of the battery’s chemistry.

Parallelly, Thomas Edison invented an alkaline battery using potassium hydroxide and nickel-iron electrodes in 1903. It was famously known as “Edison’s Alkaline Battery”. In fact, some people also argue that Edison invented the first rechargeable battery using alkaline material.

Who doesn’t want the tag of “The First Creator”? I think the feeling is understandable. However, there was no question of plagiarism and patent infringement as both the inventors were not aware of each other’s existence.

The battery could not make it into the then automobile industry due to Henry Ford’s model T that standardized gasoline engine cars. However, with further improvements, the alkaline battery was used to power electric lamps and a supplementary power back for rail vehicles.

In the late 1940s, a Frenchman named Neumann improved the technology that resulted in the commercialization of sealed alkaline batteries. He proposed creating larger negative electrode to suppress the amount of hydrogen gas produced and increase the efficiency of oxygen absorption [8].

Conclusion

In conclusion, the wet cell batteries dominated the initial era of battery invention throughout 19th century. At the same time, the invention of dry cell batteries was almost like the strange calmness before a storm that was eagerly waiting to wreck havoc.

The developments of the 20th century was no less than a storm. The next post will focus on some major events that unfolded during the 20th century and the transition from wet cells to dry cells to alkaline cells. Stay tuned!

Thank you for your time!