A battery can be operated in two modes, either by prescribing the current or the voltage. Define the boundary conditions in the Experiment tab of the option's dialog.

In the first case, the cell potential is a simulation result and in the second case, it is a time-dependent current that is computed. In a current-controlled simulation, the current can be specified in three different ways: Prescribing the electronic current directly (in A), the current density (in A/m²), or the C-rate. Using the C-rate is useful since it allows an intuitive understanding of the load that is applied on the cell without the need to know the cell capacity. Note that the same C-rate might correspond to different currents for different geometries with different capacity! Similarly, the same current density might correspond to a different current if the cross section of the cell changes. So be aware of this relation when comparing different simulation cases.

Battery charging and discharging with constant potential can be simulated. In case of constant potential, the time-dependent current, charge rate, etc. are not constant anymore and can be analyzed for the charging simulation in the GeoDict Result Viewer.

Additionally, it is possible to define a charging profile. This allows to simulate the charging or discharging with different boundary conditions at the current collectors one after the other. Relaxation of the battery or electrode after charging and discharging can be simulated as separate step in the charging profile.