As students in an Advanced Chemistry class, we recently embarked on the journey of battery making. We experimented greatly with our options, trying everything from a copper zinc battery to an air aluminum battery. Eventually, we settled on the idea of using carbon and aluminum, since everything else seemed to keep failing.

With a carbon aluminum cell we acquired a voltage of .7 to as much as 1.1 volts. The battery was simple to make and did not require containment of large amounts of liquids. Because the battery was relatively dry, it was easy to handle as well.