| Popis: |
The early, only demonstrative voltage-producing systems go back to Galvani, Volta, Daniell, and Bunsen during the late eighteenth century. The more technical and scientific progress came in the nineteenth century with the Faraday laws and the descriptions of electrode reactions by Nernst and Helmholtz creating the electrochemistry known today. The following manganese dioxide–zinc primary cells, the wet Leclanche cells, and dry zinc–carbon cells differed in electrodes and electrolytes and in sizes and designs, and were already used for many home applications. Around 1960, the technology made a great step forward, leading to the more powerful alkaline manganese dioxide–zinc batteries, which operated flashlights and electronic devices for years, demonstrating their excellent shelf life (even without amalgamation) in hot tropical climates. This article reviews the different cell variations and the improvements that resulted in a large global market penetration. The battery industry demonstrated the importance of material selection and reduced the mass production cost tremendously. However, the slowly rising competition between primary and rechargeable batteries, which started in the 1980s, is now shifting to reusable or rechargeable systems, for environmental reasons. The history of the very high-capacity metal (zinc)–carbon/air cells and of the primary lithium batteries will also be included. |
