Types of battery

There are a number of different types of household batteries used by householders for a variety of purposes. The three main types are:

Wet-cell: Lead acid batteries used to power vehicles and by industry.

Dry-cell non-rechargeable: These are the most common types of household battery.

General purpose disposable household batteries include:

• Zinc carbon used in low drainage appliances such as torches, clocks, shavers and radios.
• Zinc chloride used in similar applications.
• Alkaline manganese used in personal stereos, radio-cassette players. Less prone to leaking than the above two types and longer lasting.
• Primary button cells:
• • Mercuric oxide used in batteries for hearing aids, pacemakers, photographic equipment.
  • Zinc air – an alternative to mercuric oxide button cells – used for hearing aids and radio pagers.
  • Silver oxide used for electronic watches and calculators.
  • Lithium used for watches and photographic equipment.

Dry-cell rechargeable – general purpose rechargeable batteries for the above uses, and also including Nickel cadmium, Nickel metal hydride and Lithium-Ion batteries used in power tools, cordless appliances, mobile phones etc.

• Nickel cadmium (NiCd) batteries represent one of the fastest growing sectors in the battery market. Used for cordless power tools, personal stereos, portable telephones, lap-top computers, shavers, motorised toys etc, with a life of 4-5 years.
• Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries are a less environmentally harmful alternative to NiCd and tend to have a longer life.
• Lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries have a greater energy storage capacity than NiCd and NiMH batteries.

Using rechargeable batteries reduces the number of batteries requiring disposal, but 80% of them contain nickel cadmium, a known human carcinogen, and therefore need to be disposed of safely. sourse:http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Batteries.htm