In 1800, italian physicists were able to keep the current running — the world's first battery “voltage stacked” — by stacking zinc and copper inverted piles, placing in the middle a cardboard immersed in salt water, and connecting the two ends with a steering line. Until then, humans had only been able to see the trace of electricity from lightning, static, and for the first time, a “controllable continuous current” was created, not only to reverse the erroneous perception of “animal electricity” at the time (the generation of electricity depended on biological tissues, such as the muscles, nerves, rather than the physical or chemical effects of non-living materials), but also to lay the foundation directly for subsequent electrical research。
In order to understand the core of the battery, it is first necessary to capture "why electronics flow." the answer is hidden in the power gap: just as water flows down, electrons flow from the negative pole of “low power” (e. G. Zinc) to the positive pole of “high power” (e. G. Copper). Zinc's electron loss is much more powerful than copper, and it automatically loses the outermost electrons into zn2+ into electrolytic fluids, which can only flow straight along the external guidance lines -- this is the source of the current and the bottom drive of all chemical batteries。
But electronic mobility alone is not enough, and the question of “charge balance” must be addressed. In the absence of electrolyte, the negative pole will accumulate zn2+ (positive charge) continuously, and the positive charge will accumulate and attract each other by receiving the electronics, which will soon prevent the electronics from continuing to move. The role of early voltage reactors using salt water as electrolyte and modern dry batteries using paste-type ammonium chloride is essentially the same: to allow negative charges (e. G., cl-) in electrolytic fluids to move to negative poles, medium and zn2+; to positive charges (e. G. Nh4+) to supplement positive-consumption positive charges — precisely this “ion-directed migration” — to stabilize currents。
From voltage reactors to modern batteries, the core principle remains unchanged, but the evolution of material design allows the battery to “mass leap”. Early batteries are “one-off” and negative zinc will be dissolved as the reaction continues to dissolve, and normal polar materials will be depleted and the reaction will be “unelectric”. Now, the lithium ion cell replaces the word “irreversible” with the word “reversible ion embedded/de-insulated”: when charged, lithium ion is embedded from the positive pole (e. G. Lithium cobalt-acid) into the negative pole (graphite); when discharged, lithium ion returns from the negative pole to the positive pole, and electrons generate currents via external circuits. Throughout the process, both positive and negative materials are almost non-consumption and can be recycled as long as electricity is replenished, which is also key to the continued supply of mobile phones and electric vehicles。
From a simple stacking of salt water to a “energy box” in a pocket, the 100-year evolution of batteries is essentially an optimisation of the three core logics of “power differential drive, charge balance, reversible” — the upgrading of each material to make chemistry more efficient and sustainable into electricity。
