1. What Are Alkaline Battery Made of？
Alkaline batteries are disposable batteries with zinc and manganese dioxide as electrodes. The alkaline electrolyte used is potassium. A typical battery needs 3 parts to create electricity:
- Anode – positive side of the battery: the main component is Zinc, Zinc is processed into powder and mixed evenly with electrolyte, Stir it into a paste. As shown below:
- Cathode – the negative side of the battery: The main component of the battery positive electrode is manganese dioxide. Manganese dioxide is generally pure manganese dioxide after electrolysis to remove impurities, and then uniformly mixed with acetylene black and electrolyte, and processed into a ring with high density. As shown below:
- Electrolyte – a chemical paste that separates the anode and cathode and transforms chemical energy into electrical energy. Electrolyte is also called diaphragm paper, which is made of non-woven fabric. Its function is to separate the positive and negative electrodes. When the battery is connected to electrical appliances, electrons flow from the positive electrode to the negative electrode through the diaphragm paper, forming a loop, which converts students into electrical energy. As shown below:
- Steel shell, the main role of the steel shell on the alkaline battery is to act as a container, and all the materials are sealed in the steel shell. As shown below:
- Other main accessories Negative component: mainly composed of sealing ring, copper needle, and base, As shown below:
When you recycle your alkaline batteries at Raw Materials Company, you can be certain that 100% of each battery is being reused and no materials are going to landfill.
2. What Is the Structure of the Alkaline Batteries?
* Steel can: as battery shell, The surface of the steel shell is plated with a layer of nickel to prevent rust
* Separator paper: separate the anode and cathode materials
* Conductive graphite: Promote anode and cathode electron flow
* Cathode mix: Participate in chemical reactions as a negative electrode material
* Collector nail: as Current collector, when the battery is used, current flows through it.
* Sealing plug: Sealing to prevent flow out of material inside the battery
* Sealant: seal the sealing plug
* Negative cap: as the negative bottom of the battery
3. How Alkaline Batteries Work?
A section of an alkaline battery is called a cell of the battery. A dry battery is a primary battery in the chemical power supply. It is a kind of disposable battery. It uses manganese dioxide as the positive electrode and zinc cylinder as the negative electrode to convert chemical energy into electrical energy to supply an external circuit. In the chemical reaction, because zinc is more active than manganese, zinc loses electrons and is oxidized, while manganese gets electrons and is reduced.
The reaction formula is as follows:
Negative electrode: Zn=Zn2＋＋2e
Positive electrode: 2MnO2＋2NH4＋＋2e＝Mn2O3＋2NH3＋H2O
Total reaction: Zn＋2MnO2＋2NH4＋=2Zn2＋＋Mn2O3＋2NH3＋H2O
When we use alkaline batteries, sometimes the battery leaks or explodes. If you encounter this problem, don’t worry about it. The leakage is due to an internal short circuit. Open the sealing ring and the electric fluid inside will flow out. If the skin comes in contact with it, wash it off with water immediately.
The air volume in alkaline batteries is very small, so there is no need to worry about explosions, at most, the bottom of the negative electrode rushes out, generally within 20 cm, which will not cause serious damage to personnel.
There is no spontaneous combustion substance in alkaline batteries, because alkaline batteries are different from lithium batteries in that they do not ignite spontaneously.
