Energy Storage, 2nd Edition

Chapter 11Single Cell Empirical Data

11.1 Design and Construction of Cells and the Materials Employed

Concentration cells offer opportunities of many design forms. The materials employed can be fashioned in many shapes and sizes. There are no basic problems in producing devices with very special characteristics. Materials are most easily taken as flat sheets for electrodes because that configuration lends itself to a host of design application requirements.

The simple parallel plate electrode design approach is probably the easiest to describe and represent in drawings. For that reason alone, the configuration descriptions employed here will be confined to such designs. Other cell and battery shapes are certainly possible if required for particular applications where, for example, cylindrical forms would offer advantages over rectangular structures. The following are the principal components and materials for construction:

• Carbon for electrodes
• Porous plastic sheets as separators
• Cation exchange membranes
• Plastic containers for cell or battery assemblies
• Electrical contacts for external connections
• Microporous carbon with large surface areas.

The electrodes are basically graphite plates with a “surfacing” of microporous carbon frequently referred to as activated charcoal. This layer of active carbon provides very large surface areas for storing reactants as well as electrochemical reaction sites.

This general design is shown as an edge view of a cell in Figure 11.1. The simple ...