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Many people feel that the development of the lithium battery is more important than the development of the artificial pacemaker, which others had been working on before Wilson Greatbatch invented his device. Early pacemakers used mercuric oxide-zinc batteries, which had serious faults. First, the battery produced a small amount of hydrogen gas, which the body had to absorb. Second, it was necessary to separate the components with a fabricated separator. Third, the battery could not be hermetically sealed, because one of the reactions produced hydrogen gas. Because the battery could not be sealed, the pacemaker could not be sealed. Since the pacemaker was not sealed, the inside was often 100 percent humidity, which was a poor environment for electronic components. Moreover, the battery was capable of sudden failure, and its longevity was only one to five years.

Greatbatch introduced a lithium-iodide battery for the pacemaker in the early 1970's, and it soon became the standard power source in the world's pacemakers. It produces no hydrogen gas and therefore can be hermetically sealed. With a sealed battery, the pacemaker can be sealed, and leakage into the pacemaker is kept to a minimum. In the lithium-iodide battery, there is no fabricated separator that can fail; thus, the three main problems with the mercuric oxide-zinc battery were solved with the lithium-iodide battery.

The lithium-iodide battery produces a high voltage, 2.8 volts. However, because it has a large internal impedance, the maximum current is only one-tenth of a milliamp. That amount of current is too low for most uses, although it is fine for a pacemaker. The lithium is used as the anode. The cathode is a composite of iodine and poly (2-vinylpyridine). Neither solid iodine nor poly (2-vinylpyridine) are conductive. However, when mixed and heated, they form a conducting liquid that can be poured into the cell in which it forms a solid. When the solid touches the lithium anode, it forms a semiconducting layer of crystalline lithium iodide that is one molecule thick. This layer grows as the cell is discharged. The voltage of the battery changes with the thickness of the layer because the layer is resistive. This allows the battery to be tested without having to be removed from the body. The lithium-iodide battery thus allows for long-term use of a pacemaker. It is now the standard battery for pacemakers because of its small size, high voltage, low self-discharge, and reliability.

In 1958 Dr. William Chardack stated that an implantable pacemaker could save ten thousand lives each year. Today there are more than sixty times that number of pacemakers installed worldwide each year. Patients with heart block will often suffer syncope (loss of consciousness), and then can die.

The pacemaker maintains normal blood flow and prevents heart block. The pacemaker also treats rapid and irregular heartbeat. An episode of irregular heartbeat can produce such a small flow of blood that immediate death can result.

Not only does the pacemaker save lives, but it also improves quality of life. A person with restricted blood flow is less able to think quickly or have the energy to do all the things that he or she wants to do. With the pacemaker, the heart produces an adequate flow of blood, which produces more energy and the ability to think quickly. People have lived thirty or more years with a pacemaker.

Greatbatch built upon the ideas of other inventors, but his persistence in getting a doctor to implant his pacemaker, first in animals and then in human patients, set him apart from other inventors and made the pacemaker a common treatment for cardiac problems. He also persevered in making a device that was long-lasting. He continually tested components, finally developing a corrosion-free battery that improved the longevity of both his device and the patients using it.

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