Jenga Helps Build Understanding of Lithium-Ion Batteries

By Moira Bell

Jenga, a well-known game, is being used to teach students about a relatively new technology. It’s not only a game that keeps you on the edge of your seat, it’s also an effective tool for explaining the mechanisms of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, according to a team from the University of Birmingham School of Chemistry.

If you’ve never played Jenga, the rules are simple. You build a tower of wooden blocks and the players take turns removing one block at a time and placing it atop the tower without knocking it down. These actions are not dissimilar from charging a battery, says the team.

Battery Building Blocks

To understand the similarities, you must first know the structure of a Li-ion battery, which consists of layers of oxide and graphite electrodes separated by an electrolyte. At full charge, the lithium ions move via the electrolyte from the graphite to the oxide electrode. The electrode material is layered onto current collectors, which help to convert the electrons to power.

The layers of Jenga™ blocks demonstrate how the battery components interact with each other. By removing blocks and placing them on top of the tower, students can recreate the action of lithium ions moving from the oxide electrode to the graphite electrode, as when the battery is charging. Reversing these actions represents battery discharge.

Besides demonstrating complex chemistry and redox reactions, the game can also show the effects of the rate of charge for varying applications. As students move the Jenga blocks at faster rates, it will cause the structure to fall. Additionally, blocks become displaced as they are removed and reinserted, which helps explain changes to battery performance over time.

A Fully Charged Approach

The Jenga block sets have been tested by multiple visiting schools and at public events, and students and teachers both give it a “thumbs up.”

Next, the team plans to make this learning activity more widely available for students and provide subject support for teachers. The team’s paper in the Journal of Chemical Education includes instructions for producing your own sets.

Who said learning about chemistry can’t be fun?