Physical changes as battery discharges correlated with bounce
Inspired by a YouTube video, scientists in the US have confirmed that a simple bounce test can be used as a technique to indicate charge in a battery.
Scanning electron microscope images comparing a fresh cell to one after a full discharge
Steingart explains that he was particularly pleased with the information that could be gained through such a simple measurement. ‘We needed XRD to explain why the bounce changes this way, but once the correlation is made, a secondary school physics experiment can indicate where and how reactions are occurring in the battery.’ He also says that this worked for other alkaline batteries and that Duracell, who made the batteries they tested, confirmed that they design the batteries to withstand short drops of up to 30cm.
Yuxuan Wang, an expert in microscopy and advanced instrumentation at Ohio University, in the US, is impressed by the technique’s convenience: ‘The simplicity and low cost make it a great complement to other widely used diagnostic tools.’
Reference
This article is free until 11 May 2015. Download it here:
S Bhadra et al, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2015, DOI: 10.1039/c5ta01576f
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