Daniell’s Battery
It was soon discovered that if the zinc electrode were rubbed with mercury (amalgamated), the local action would practically cease, and if the hydrogen bubbles were removed, the operating voltage of the cell would be increased. John Frederic Daniell, an English chemist, invented a cell in 1836 to overcome these difficulties. His cell consisted of a glass jar containing a saturated solution of copper sulphate (CuSO4). A copper cylinder, open at both ends and perforated with holes, was put into this solution. On the outside of the copper cylinder there was a copper ring, located below the surface of the solution, acting as a shelf to support crystals of copper sulphate. Inside the cylinder there was a porous earthenware jar containing dilute sulphuric acid and an amalgamated zinc rod. The two liquids were therefore kept apart but in contact with each other through the pores of the jar. The hydrogen gas given off by the action of the sulphuric acid on the zinc, combined with the dissolved copper sulphate, formed sulphuric acid and metallic copper. The latter was deposited on the copper cylinder which acted as the other electrode. Thus the copper sulphate acted as a depolarizer.
The chemical reactions in this cell are,
In inner porous jar: Zn + H2SO4 = ZnSO4 + H2
In outer glass jar: H2 + CuSO4 = H2SO4 + Cu
This cell had an open circuit voltage of a little over one volt. Later the porous cup was dispensed with, the two liquids being kept apart by the difference of their specific gravities. This was known as the Gravity cell, and for years was used in telegraphy.