Expert: Dr. Jeffery Raymond - 10/18/2011

Question
I am trying to make a dry pile battery. Most of them use manganese dioxide and Tin.

Q1 Where does Manganese dioxide fall on the electronegativity scale?

I am trying to calculate what the possible voltage would be if I applied Mno2+starch on one side of a paper, and aluminum foil on the other.
The ones I have made top out at 1.1 volts.

Q2. Is that the maximum possible from this combination?

My next experiment was going to be Magnesium foil on one side of the paper and aluminum on the other.

My basic question is how to mathematically calculate the voltages without actually building one. I am no chemist and have not been able to find the method on the Internet. Any help you can offer will be appreciated.

Answer
So there are some terms you need to be aware of for this type of cell:
Half-cell reaction = the energy cost for driving electrons to make a substance neutral
Full-cell reaction =  the total energy provided by running to half cells together, as well as the direction of electron flow.

Check out this website for starters:
http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/elchem/ec8.html

Also, if you get a basic general chemistry book from your local library and it will have a low level chapter on how these types of cells work.  Until you see some of this language, a full explanation would be beyond the scope of this forum.

However, I can tell you that stacking cells is a sure fire way to increase voltage.that is to say MnO2/Starch-Paper-Al-Paper-Mn02/Starch-Paper-Al would be a two stack battery.

Once you check out some of the basics and find out what your half cell reactions are, I should be able to help you out implicitly.

Thanks!