Answer to Question #210832 in Electric Circuits for marly

Question

Which of these is NOT found in your phone's battery?

graphite

lithium

cobalt

oxygen

hexafluorophosphate

carbon

copper

aluminum

zinc

Answer 1

A phone battery in the majority of today’s phones is based on lithium-ion technology. These batteries tend to use lithium cobalt oxide as the positive electrode in the battery (as well other transition metals are sometimes used in place of cobalt), while on the other hand the negative electrode is formed from carbon in the form of graphite. This piece of technology will also have an organic solvent to act as the electrolytic fluid. The lithium in the positive electrode is ionized during the charging of the battery and moves into the layers of the graphite electrode. During discharge, the ions move back to the positive electrode. The battery itself is usually housed in an aluminum casing.

This means that from all the components suggested on the list the one that does not match the usual composition of these batteries is "hexafluorophosphate" because does not have any application in their manufacturing process.

References:

• Greenwood, N. N., & Earnshaw, A. (2012). Chemistry of the Elements. Elsevier.
• Müller, A. (2013). The chemistry of the mobile phones Nokia Nuron 5230, Nokia 5130 and Sony Ericsson W595.