Legacy electronics have prevented significant advancements in alkaline batteries

During manufacturing, lithium-ion and alkaline batteries are tested for short-circuiting

Lithium-ion batteries are made by manufacturing anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes via chemical processes, assembling these components into cells, and enclosing multiple interconnected cells within a protective casing. Disposable alkaline battery production involves filling steel containers with preforms—rings of powdered cathode material—paper-based separators, electrolyte solution, and an anode gel.

Batteries range in size based on their purpose, cost, and manufacturability

Lead-acid batteries used in combustion vehicles are resilient to temperature extremes, low-cost, and provide high surge current, which is needed for initial ignition. Alkaline batteries, including AA, AAA, and B, have long shelf lives and supply the low, steady power required for electronics with minimal demand fluctuations.

Lithium-ion batteries are the standard for rechargeable devices

The costly setup of new mining operations and challenges with recycling amid growing demand have led researchers to search for alternatives, including sodium-ion, solid-state, and lithium-sulphur batteries, despite challenges with scalability.

Lithium can store and deliver substantial energy for its cost and weight

When exploring which compounds would be best suited for batteries, scientists sought elements that were relatively inexpensive to mine, readily available, and that provided high energy density—how much chemical energy an element could store for its size. Lithium-ion batteries provide these benefits and discharge at very low rates when unused.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

As of 2022, only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled globally

Traditional recycling methods have been inadequate for lithium batteries, prompting manufacturers to explore more sustainable battery designs, alongside robotic disassembly and ultrasonic techniques to improve recycling rates. Studies have shown that mining for new lithium requires significantly more water and energy than recycling and results in declining vegetation near mines.

The abundance of raw materials may lead to sodium replacing lithium in batteries

Lower risks of thermal runaway, which can lead to fires and explosions, and less energy capacity loss at low temperatures support the shift. However, sodium's greater weight and lower energy density compared to lithium have made it best suited for stationary storage applications. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

From 1991 to 2024, lithium-ion battery cell prices have fallen by 99%

The decrease from about $10,000 to $50 per kilowatt-hour has been driven by innovations in battery chemistry, improvements in manufacturing and supply chains, and increases in global cumulative production, which have caused average price declines of 19% each time it has doubled.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for lithium-ion battery development

Stanley Whittingham developed the first functional lithium battery in the early 1970s, while John Goodenough doubled its electrical potential in 1980 by replacing the cathode, thereby enhancing its commercial viability. Five years later, Akira Yoshino developed an anode using carbon material, reducing the risk of flammability.

Growing EV adoption requires battery management infrastructure

Despite rechargeable batteries' limited life cycle, companies like Spiers New Technologies have developed methods to repair, refurbish, repurpose and recycle these components to minimize environmental waste, lower demand for new critical minerals, and increase electric vehicle lifetimes.

The first lithium-ion battery was invented at ExxonMobil

Initially a side project that became a priority due to the 1973 oil crisis, the battery's flammability risks and manufacturing challenges, along with the waning crisis, led the company to shut down its battery program. Other researchers would gradually improve upon published prototype designs in the next decade.

Breaking down the challenges of alkaline environments and how extremophiles survive them

These areas are far less acidic than the interiors of most organisms' cells, and this imbalance draws protons that are needed for various metabolic processes, including energy production, out of cells. To counter these effects, some alkaliphiles have developed stronger proton regulation across their cellular membranes and proteins that drive these processes with greater stability amid such acidity imbalances.

Gradual chemical build-up reduces the effectiveness of rechargeable batteries

During charge cycles, small chemical deposits gradually form a film on the electrodes where they make contact with the electrolyte, trapping ions that would otherwise facilitate the flow of electricity. Mechanical degradation from electrode wear and electrical shorting from structural instability can also reduce battery capacity.

Solid-state batteries substitute the fluid electrolyte layer with a solid

The non-flammable solid greatly reduces the risk of fire and explosion, as well as the release of toxic gases via leaks in the existing sulfide-based systems. These batteries use garnet-type solid electrolytes, which provide high ionic conductivity and chemical stability but require temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit) for fabrication.

How to safely dispose of every kind of battery

As lithium-ion batteries have proliferated in phones, e-bikes, power tools, and dozens of other devices, improper disposal has become a leading cause of fires in recycling facilities and garbage trucks. Battery Safety Now partnered with the US Forest Service's Woodsy Owl campaign to provide guidance on how to recycle batteries by type, including locator tools for drop-off sites.

The world's largest lemon battery was made from nearly 3,000 lemons

By connecting lemons with a piece of zinc on one side and a piece of copper on the other, a team from the Royal Society of Chemistry created a fruit battery with a capacity of 2,307.8 volts.

Accidental ingestion of batteries can be life-threatening

Tissue in the body can serve as a circuit path between the anode and cathode of a battery, resulting in electrical burns and gradual tissue erosion. Stomach acid can corrode a battery and cause its toxic contents to leak, making a person sick. Batteries for internal use, such as in pacemakers, require special designs.

Dragon seismometers, Baghdad batteries, and more ancient artifacts

The ancients were behind us in many ways, but some inventions from the time have not been surpassed in the modern era in effectiveness, beauty, or cleverness. This quick list of bizarre ancient inventions includes a battery from Baghdad, a Molotov cocktail-like explosive in Greece, and more.

Why it's so hard to end the use of toxic lead

Lead was one of the earliest metals mined on Earth, desired for its soft malleability and used in cosmetics, pipework, gasoline, and more. But even though researchers demonstrated its toxicity in the 20th century, much of the world still uses it.

Radioactive elements can generate electricity, sterilize products, and date artifacts

Since their discovery in the 1890s, these substances have been incorporated throughout our daily lives, from treating food packaging and improving microbial safety to their presence in smoke detectors and gauges for ice cream aeration.

Tesla's alternating current power's most of the world's electric grids

In 1879, Thomas Edison’s light bulb relied on direct current, but such currents can't efficiently transmit power over long distances. Nikola Tesla introduced alternating current, which feature far fewer energy loses. Despite Edison’s attempts to discredit AC, Tesla proved its efficiency by lighting the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Ledgers—what are they good for?

It might seem strange that a ledger—a dull and practical document associated mainly with accounting—would be described as a revolutionary technology. But the blockchain matters because ledgers matter. Read (or listen to) this 14 minute breakdown on why ledgers matter.

More than 200 drug trials for Alzheimer's have failed or been abandoned since 2010

The complexity of Alzheimer's disease, coupled with decades of underfunded research efforts, has left patients with little in the way of effective treatments. In recent years, scientists have synthesized several drugs that studies show can slow the progression of Alzheimer's—though the disease itself remains incurable.

Mass market paperbacks were originally designed to fit in your pocket

These books were supposed to cost no more than a pack of cigarettes and had a huge reach thanks to their affordable price. The pocket-sized paperbacks are now going extinct due to the convenience of downloading reading materials on smartphones and other shifts in the publishing industry.

Transistors in traditional computers are physically limited to atomic scales

As computer parts shrink, transistors—tiny switches that control the path of electrical signals—become obsolete because electrons can quantum tunnel through switch barriers. This makes quantum computers, which take advantage of quantum effects, an enticing alternative.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.