bunsen's work brought him quick and wide acclaim, partly because cacodyl, which is extremely toxic and undergoes spontaneous combustion in dry air, is so difficult to work with. bunsen almost died from arsenic poisoning, and an explosion with cacodyl cost him sight in his right eye. in 1841, bunsen created the bunsen cell battery, using a carbon electrode instead of the expensive platinum electrode used in william robert grove's electrochemical cell. early in 1851 he accepted a professorship at the university of breslau, where he taught for three semesters.