ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
While reading “3-D Printing with Ionic Liquids,” it came to my mind that the principal problem with batteries remains their recycling ( C&EN, Dec. 1, 2014, page 5). Chemical batteries, although cheap in manufacturing, are highly taxed in many countries for environmental concerns. I’m referring to the Zn/MnO2 Leclanché cell with acid (NH4Cl) electrolyte and the corresponding alkaline cell with KOH electrolyte, which are commonly used to power electronic equipment.
However, most of the electric energy produced in the form of such cells perishes on the way to the end user because the zinc is corroding slowly in the electrolyte even in the absence of an external electric circuit.
Hence, these batteries, after six to 12 months of storage time, contain a fraction of their original charge and must be sold for a fraction of their original price. At the end, every battery produced ends up as chemical waste to be recycled.
On the other hand, dry-store zinc-based batteries with separated electrolytes have been known for a long time and used for military applications. The electrolyte is contained in a capsule inside the battery, which is broken before use by a short blow of the back of the battery against a hard surface; only then is the electrolyte freed and sucked into the space between the electrodes. Such cells can be stored for an infinite time. Their systematic use would thus lower the environmental impact caused by chemical batteries because stored energy doesn’t perish on the way to the end user and fewer batteries need to be manufactured.
What is clearly needed here is a legal constraint on the manufacturing of zinc-based nonrechargeable batteries so that only batteries with separate electrolyte can be sold.
Edgar Müller
Prilly, Switzerland
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on X