Batteries are simple things on paper, so why all the fuss on the internet. Surely, a society that can explore our solar system, should have come up with a perfect battery by now? After all, we have had over two centuries to achieve this, since the birth of electro-chemistry in 1799. But then, perhaps we should ask ourselves, maybe there is more to batteries that meets the eye.
Three Simple Things That Make Up Batteries
Every electro-chemical battery has three basic parts inside a protective case. These components are two electrodes – the positive cathode and the negative anode – and an electrolyte that separates them.
The world around us, and inside of us comprises atoms, although these ‘building blocks’ combine in different ways to become the things we touch, feel and see. These atoms, in turn, have negatively charged particles that we call electrons.
The negative anode in a charged battery has a stock of these negatively-charged electrons, that the positive cathode receives via an external device. As the particles pass through the circuit, they become the electricity that powers the equipment.
So indeed, yes, batteries are simple things in theory. But they have become so invaluable, we really could not do without them nowadays. The pressure is on us to perfect them for the sake of renewable energy. But why then is this taking so long?
Change Is On the Menu for the Battery Recipe
There is a modern proverb that says, ‘if it is working, don’t fix it’. Although Richard Mackay writing in Energy Talk, suspects change is coming in the world of batteries. But first, he says, we need to manage our risk aversion better.
This reticence to fiddle with battery basics began with the 2006 exploding Sony laptops, and topped out with the 2013 Boeing Dreamliner fires. Since then, lithium-ion batteries have remained fundamentally the same.
Richard Mackay foresees the beginning of an era of specialist battery component makers, each one an expert in their field. Battery manufactures will merely assemble these components in future, so batteries become simple things to make again.
More Information
Challenges Facing Electric Vehicle Markets
All Batteries Have These Things In Common
