Mercury battery

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A mercury battery (also called mercuric oxide battery, or mercury cell) is a non-rechargeable
electrochemical battery, a primary cell. Due to the content of mercury, and the resulting
environmental concerns, the sale of mercury batteries is banned in many countries. Both ANSI
and IEC have withdrawn standards for mercury batteries. Mercury batteries were made in button
types for watches and calculators, and in larger forms for other applications.

History
The mercury oxide-zinc battery system was known more than 100 years ago [1] but did not
become widely used until 1942, when Samuel Ruben developed a balanced mercury cell which
was useful for military applications such as metal detectors, munitions, and walkie-talkies.[2] The
battery system had the advantages of long shelf life (to 10 years) and steady voltage output. After
the Second World War the battery system was widely applied for small electronic devices such
as cardiac pacemakers and hearing aids.

Chemistry
Mercury batteries use either pure mercuric oxide or a mix of mercuric oxide with manganese
dioxide as the cathode. Mercuric oxide is a non-conductor so some graphite is mixed with it; the
graphite also helps prevent collection of mercury into large droplets. The anode is made of zinc
and separated from the cathode with a layer of paper or other porous material soaked with
electrolyte. During discharge, zinc oxidizes to zinc oxide and mercuric oxide gets reduced to
elemental mercury. A little extra mercuric oxide is put into the cell to prevent evolution of
hydrogen gas at the end of life. Mercury batteries are very similar to silver-oxide batteries.

Sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide are used as an electrolyte. Sodium hydroxide cells
have nearly constant voltage at low discharge currents, making them ideal for hearing aids,
calculators, and electronic watches. Potassium hydroxide cells, in turn, provided constant voltage
at higher currents, making them suitable for applications requiring current surges, e.g.
photographic cameras with flash, and watches with a backlight. Potassium hydroxide cells also
have better performance at lower temperatures. Mercury cells have very long shelf life, up to 10
years.

A different form of mercury battery uses mercuric oxide and cadmium. This has a much lower
terminal voltage around 0.9 volts and so has lower energy density, but it has an extended
temperature range, in special designs up to 180 C.[3][4]
Electrical characteristics
Mercury batteries using mercury(II) oxide cathode have a very flat discharge curve, holding
constant 1.35 V (open circuit) voltage until about last 5% of their lifetime, when their voltage
drops rapidly. The voltage remains within 1% for several years at light load, and over a wide
temperature range, making mercury batteries useful as a reference voltage in electronic
instruments and in photographic light meters. Mercury batteries with cathodes made of a mix of
mercuric oxide and manganese dioxide have output voltage of 1.4 V and more sloped discharge
curve.

Substitutes
The ban on sale of mercury oxide batteries caused numerous problems for photographers, whose
equipment frequently relied on their advantageous discharge curves and long lifetime.
Alternatives used are zinc-air batteries, with similar discharge curve but much shorter lifetime (a
few months) and poor performance in dry climates, alkaline batteries with voltage widely
varying through their lifetime, and silver-oxide batteries with higher voltage (1.55 V) and very
flat discharge curve, making them possibly the best, though expensive, replacement. Special
adapters with a voltage dropping germanium diode are available, to adapt silver oxide batteries
for use in older equipment designed for mercury batteries, such as cameras and light meters
which require a stable, exact voltage.