1. From Volta batteries to the first commercial battery technologies

At the dawn of the 19 ^th century, after several decades of empirical studies of galvanic phenomena, Alessandro Volta laid the first scientific foundations of electrochemistry by studying the generation of electricity at the terminals of a Voltaic cell consisting of two metal electrodes (zinc and copper) separated by a fabric impregnated with a saline solution. A few decades later, Michael Faraday heralded a first “electrochemical theory” resistant to the test of experimental facts, including, among other things, the law which bears his name, according to which the quantity of matter transformed during a reaction is proportional to the quantity of electricity which crossed the electrochemical cell. He gave us new terms: electrode, anode, cathode,...