Powered by Innovation

Leading with Innovation

Duracell launched its most ground-breaking innovation, Duracell Optimum, in 2019. In 2022, Duracell launched POWER BOOST™ Ingredients in both Optimum and Coppertop AA/AAA batteries.

Duracell also unveiled a new development to their lithium coin battery safety system.  In addition to child proof packaging, on-pack and on-battery safety warnings a bitter coating was added that may help discourage accidental ingestion. Each 2032, 2025 and 2016 lithium coin battery is now equipped with a non-toxic bitter substance designed to discourage swallowing and help keep children safe.

Smaller Devices, Bigger Needs

As portable devices became even more critical to our lives, so did the need for batteries. Duracell's Duralock technology enabled unused batteries hold their power for up to ten years, and Duracell Quantum Alkaline batteries were engineered with our High-Density Core technology to power portable devices longer and more reliably.

New Ideas for a New Millennium

The dawning of a new millennium sees Duracell branch out into new power form factors, including portable device chargers and proprietary flashlight technology called Daylite. As more devices become smaller, Duracell also introduces a new CR2 Lithium battery and innovations to make other lithium batteries thinner and more longer lasting.

More Reasons to Trust

Continuing in our commitments to provide safe and environmentally friendly products, Duracell eliminates mercury in the formulations of our alkaline batteries.

Duracell Diversifies

New kinds of devices required new kinds of batteries. In the early 1980s, Duracell's DL223A (Li-MnO2) helped revolutionize the camera industry by making point-and-shoot cameras possible.

The decade also saw Duracell's entrance into the zinc-air hearing aid business with the acquisition of Activair from form Gould. The launch of the first 123A (LiMnO2) photo battery with a PTC safety device and the DL245 battery for cameras continue to help advance the photo industry.

Taking Part in the Space Race

Duracell has played its part throughout the USA Space Program. In 1963, Duracell was aboard Mercury 9 as Astronaut Gordon Cooper orbited the earth 22 times.

On July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the moon, Duracell batteries were selected for the mission. Duracell batteries also powered the timer on the seismic experimental package that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left behind at Tranquility Base on the lunar surface. And aboard the capsule, Duracell batteries powered emergency flashlights and rescue devices to aid in emergency water recovery.

In 2002, Duracell provided the first lithium batteries on the space shuttle. Lithium battery packs also powered IMAX cameras for the filming of the International Space Station movie.

A Tradition of Trust Begins

Our story began in the early 1920s with an inventive scientist named Samuel Ruben and an eager manufacturer of tungsten filament wire named Philip Rogers Mallory, although the Duracell brand name was not born until the mid 1960s.

The Mallory company was instrumental in developing long lasting batteries which were needed in hot tropical environments during World War II. Mallory batteries and battery packs provided the reliable power need to operate radios, transmitters and other devices. After the war, Mallory continued to develop improved mercury and zinc carbon batteries and researched many other battery chemistries.

The Mallory Company had worked with Kodak at the start of the '60s to create a powerful small battery for use with their new Instamatic 100 Camera with Flash Cube and AAA alkaline batteries to power the Kodak Instamatic 100 camera, helping form the bedrock that would become Duracell.

By the mid 1970s, the 7K67 battery pack launched for Kodak Instant Film camera and high-energy lithium SO2 batteries were manufactured for military radios.