Battery Technologies and Markets

Spring 2010

Homework One
Assigned: January 28, 2010
Due: February 4, 2010
1. Lets think about using a cell phone battery to store energy from the grid. A lot of power
plants produce around 500MW. Lets say that we were going to store one hours worth of power
in a big pack of cell phone Li-ion batteries (i.e. 500 MW-hr).
a. If the battery operates at a constant voltage of 3.7 V, how much capacity (in A-hr) would
we need to store 500 MW-hr of energy?
12
1.8. 10 J

6
12
500.10 W . hr = 1.8. 10 J

3.7

11
= 4.865.10 C

1 A . hr
11
8
4.865. 10 C .
= 1.351. 10 A .hr
3600 C

So wed need 1.35 x 108 Ahr.

b. Assume your cell phone battery holds 1000 mAh. Estimate its weight and volume, and
then calculate the size of the battery pack that would be needed in order to store 500
MW-hr of energy. What would the specific energy and energy density of this system be?
My phone battery is about 8x10-6 m3 in volume (5 cm x 0.5 cm x 3cm) and weighs ~3 oz = 85
gm. The system would need 1.35 x 108 phone batteries, meaning 1080 m3 and 11.48 x 106 kg.
This is equal to a box 10-11 m long on each side weighing 12-13 thousand tons. The specific
energy and energy density are the same as the cell phone battery.
1 A . hr . 3.7 V
3

7.5 cm

= 493.333

W . hr

1 A . hr . 3.7 V

85 gm

= 43.529

W . hr
kg

c. How much size and volume would you need if your batteries were connected in series of
five cells each? How about in series of ten? Comment on the result. Is there an obvious
drawback to this approach?
If the cells were connected in series of five, the voltage would be five times higher and wed
need five times less capacity (and thus mass and volume) to store the same amount of energy. If
the cells were connected in series of ten, wed the size by another factor of two. The drawback to
this approach is that at higher voltages we are creating safety hazards, and that if any one of the
cells shorts or disconnects, well lose the entire string (like Christmas lights).
2. Table 1.2 in Linden has a list of battery chemistries. For the zinc/air, lead acid, and nickelcadmium batteries:
a. Write out the reactions that occur at each electrode. Label the positive and negative
electrodes, and the anode and cathode for operation as a galvanic cell.
b. Calculate the standard cell potential for each using the Table of Standard Cell Potentials.
How close are your answers to the theoretical values listed in Table 1.2?
Lead acid:
Negative (anode):
Pb + SO42 PbSO4 + 2e

Uo = -0.36 V

Battery Technologies and Markets

Spring 2010

Positive (cathode):
PbO2 + 4 H + + SO42 + 2e PbSO4 + 2 H 2 O
Uo = 2.05 V, compared with 2.10 V in Table 1.2.
NiCd:
Negative (anode):
Cd + 2OH Cd (OH ) 2 + 2e
Positive (cathode):
NiOOH + H 2 O + e Ni (OH ) 2 + OH
Uo = 1.26 V, compared with 1.35 V in Table 1.2.
Zn/Air:
Negative (anode):
Zn + 2OH Zn(OH ) 2 + 2e
Positive (cathode):
O2 + 2 H 2 O + 4e 4OH
Uo = 1.65 V, compared with 1.65 V in Table 1.2.

Uo = 1.69 V

Uo = -0.81 V
Uo = 0.45 V

Uo = -1.25 V
Uo = 0.4 V

3. Watch a video on the lemon battery, enjoying the dramatic score:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY9qcDCFeVI
a. What are the reactions for the lemon battery? What is the standard potential? Why are the
voltages measured in the video different from this?
b. Write the Nernst equation for each electrode, and the system as a whole. What would you
expect to happen to the equilibrium cell potential as the lemon battery discharges?
c. The voltage required for a standard red LED is about 2V. Why do you think the guy
needed more than that to light the LED?
Negative (anode):
Zn Zn 2+ + 2e
U = 0.76 +

Uo = -0.76 V

RT c Zn 2+
ln

2F 1

Positive (cathode):
2 H + + 2e H 2

RT (c H + ) 2
ln
U =0+
2 F p H 2

Uo = 0.V

RT (c H + ) 2
Total cell: U = 0.76 +
ln
2 F p H 2 c Zn 2+

Battery Technologies and Markets

Spring 2010

The standard potential is 0.76 V, but if the concentration of acid, zinc, or hydrogen are not
standard the measurement will be different. As the battery is discharged, the concentration of
zinc and hydrogen gas go up, which causes the equilibrium potential to decrease. This, and ionic
resistance in the lemon (especially if the electrodes are far apart, or the lemon is pulpy) mean
that there will be a lot of losses in the cell and more than 2V are required to light the bulb.
4. In class we combined the Nernst equation and a mass balance to relate the amount of charge
passed to the equilibrium potential, assuming that the copper solution changes concentration but
the zinc solution remains constant. Derive an expression if both solutions change concentration.
Plot the equilibrium potential of the Daniell cell versus time for discharge rates of 0.5 A, 1A and
2A. Assume both solutions start with 1 L of 1 M solution.
Here is the equation we want, where vol is the volume of the solution:
U = 1.1 +

It

1
RT 2 Fvol
U = 1.10V +
ln
It
2F
1+
2 Fvol

8.3143x 298 Cu 2 +
ln
2 x96487
Zn 2 +

1.11
1.1
1.09

Potential, V

1.08
1.07
0.5A
1.06
1A
1.05
2A
1.04
1.03
1.02
1.01
1
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time, hours

5. (Optional) Following what we did in class, start from the full thermodynamic expression for
the cell potential and derive the Nernst equation for the alkaline MnO2 (Zn / MnO2) cell.