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2
Practical Batteries

Koji Nishio and Nobuhiro Furukawa

2.1
Introduction
Batteries can be roughly divided into primary and secondary batteries. Primary
batteries cannot be electrically charged, but they have high energy density and good
storage characteristics. Lithium primary batteries, which were commercialized
about 20 years ago, exist in many forms, for example, lithium–manganese dioxide,
lithium–carbon monofluoride, and lithium–thionyl chloride batteries. Other bat-
teries include carbon–zinc, alkaline-manganese, zinc–air, and silver oxide–zinc
batteries.
Secondary batteries can be electrically charged, and this can offer savings in costs
and resources. Recently, lithium-ion and nickel–metal hydride (MH) batteries
have been developed, and are used with the other secondary batteries, such as
nickel–cadmium, lead–acid, and coin-type lithium secondary batteries.
The variety of practical batteries has increased during the last 20 years. Appli-
cations for traditional and new practical battery systems are increasing, and the
market for lithium-ion batteries and nickel–MH batteries has grown remarkably.
This chapter deals with consumer-type batteries, which have developed relatively
recently.

2.2
Alkaline-Manganese Batteries

Batteries using an alkaline solution as the electrolyte are commonly called al-
kaline batteries. They are high-power owing to the high conductivity of the
alkaline solution. Alkaline batteries include primary batteries, typical of which
are alkaline-manganese batteries, and secondary batteries, typical of which are
nickel–cadmium and nickel–MH batteries. These batteries are widely used.
The dry cell was invented by Leclanch´ e in the 1860s, and this type of battery
was developed in the nineteenth century. In the 1940s, Rube1 achieved significant

Handbook of Battery Materials, Second Edition. Edited by Claus Daniel and J¨ urgen O. Besenhard.
 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Published 2011 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.