Alessandro Volta reported the construction of what is usually recognized as the first battery in 1800. His device, usually referred to as a voltaic pile, was composed of a series of silver and zinc disks in pairs, each of which was separated with a sheet of pasteboard saturated in salt water. The voltaic pile was not useful for delivering currents for long periods of time. This problem was resolved in 1836 by the invention of the Daniell (voltaic) cell. The Daniell cell was supplanted by another technological development in 1859 � the lead acid (Plante) battery. And was itself supplanted in time. This talk will consist of a short history of the chemical and material developments that have led to the modern batteries in use today.

HIST tutorial: Chemistry and materials for energy � a history of batteries

247th National Meeting (2014)

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