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No, it's really air, at least in the zinc-air cells I'm familiar with. A lot of hearing aid batteries used to be (and possibly still are) zinc-air cells. They h
by Turing_Machine 3y ago
No, it's really air, at least in the zinc-air cells I'm familiar with. A lot of hearing aid batteries used to be (and possibly still are) zinc-air cells. They had an actual air vent on them, with a little sticky tab over it so they wouldn't discharge on the shelf. You'd pull off the tab before putting them in your hearing aid.
This was a while back -- possibly they've been supplanted by some lithium based technology by now.
- rzzzt 3y agoHow do you attach a lead to air?
- nottorp 3y agoThat's what prompted my initial question :)
- rzzzt 3y agoThe Wikipedia article on zinc-air batteries has an animation, but I should probably be taking a nap instead of trying to take it in: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_zinc_air_cell_1100.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_zinc_ai...
- nottorp 3y agoInteresting battery. More like a fuel cell that retains part of the fuel (the zinc)? "Zinc–air batteries cannot be used in a sealed battery holder since some air must come in; the oxygen in 1 liter of air is required for every ampere-hour of capacity used." More complex details on the wikipedia article ofc.
- rzzzt 3y agoOK, so the trick was a membrane that doesn't let the electrolyte leave but still allows it to be oxygenated.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoElectrodes and electrolytes are two different things.
- rzzzt 3y agoIndeed! This one seems to have potassium hydroxide in it.