I know that in a normal battery once the electrons have made their way from the anode to the cathode the battery dies, but rechargeable batteries are able to sort of reset the battery once it’s been put on charge.
Every time I watch a YouTube video on rechargeable batteries all they say is “We do this by forcing the electrons back to the anode” without explaining exactly how that works and its driving me up the goddamn wall.
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You just put a voltage slightly higher than the battery’s own on the terminals. It will overcome the electromotive force of the battery and force the charges to move backwards through it. The chemical process is reversible so the charges moving backwards through the cell cause the chemicals in the battery to migrate back to the starting position.
You need to do it very carefully though, if you do it too fast you can cause gases to come out of the electrolyte solution or excessive heating and blow the battery. For li-ion you need a complex charger circuit that goes through a phase of being current limited (variable voltage) to finishing off with a constant voltage phase with a cell voltage or time cutoff, or you’re going to experience the fun of a lithium battery fire.
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