Alessandro Volta in 1789 took a copper rod and a zinc rod and immersed them both in an acetic acid solution. He had just constructed the first battery cell with the first electrolyte. The copper and zinc rods were the electrodes, positive and negative. The acid started to eat away the zinc rod, while the copper rod captured the energy released from the action. A voltage developed between the two electrodes. Volta had invented the battery. The electrochemical principles that he discovered are still the foundation for the battery industry.
Seventy-nine years went by before George Leclanch developed a practical cell. He used manganese-dioxide powder as the positive electrode instead of copper; he kept the zinc. He used sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) in water for his electrolyte. A porous cup held the powder which surrounded a carbon collector. Leclanch put the whole business, or the cell, into a glass jar and invented the first wet battery.
The first dry cell battery was manufactured in 1888 under the auspices of a Dr. Gassner. It was to become the prototype for the dry cell battery industry. Gassner used zinc to hold all of the components and kept zinc for the negative electrode as well. The electrolyte material was absorbed by a porous medium. He also added zinc chloride to the electrolyte, which cut back zinc corrosion when the cell was inactive. This was a big step for longer battery storage life. Now, for the first time a dry cell battery was a neat, tightly sealed package, almost ready for mass production. It didn't take long. Batteries were first mass-produced in 1890 by the National Carbon Company at their plant in Cleveland, Ohio. Later they became the industrial giant known as Union Carbide.
Between 1890 and the 1970's, dry cell batteries increased in popularity, but there were no significant changes in design. During the 1970's, battery technology began increasing rapidly, with new batteries and new ways of making the used batteries occurring regularly. Now, in addition to the standard dry cell batteries (Carbon Zinc and Zinc Chloride), the range of batteries also includes
- Alkaline batteries (standard and high-performance)
- Lead-acid batteries
- Lithium batteries (Lithium Manganese, Lithium Ion, and Lithium Ion Polymer)
- Nickel-Cadmium batteries
- Nickel Metal-hydride batteries
- Silver-oxide batteries
- Zinc-air batteries
