1. Birth and development of electrochemistry

Electrochemistry was born in 1800, from two fundamental experiments. First, in Pavia, Alexandro Volta created the first battery capable of producing electrical voltage and current - in other words, the first true source of electricity. This battery was immediately reproduced, in various sizes, in England, and Anthony Carlisle and William Nicholson used such a current source to electrolyze water, producing hydrogen and oxygen (thus confirming, after Lavoisier and others, that water is indeed a compound body).

In the years that followed, various other electrolysis experiments were carried out, notably to obtain metallic deposits (copper, for example, in 1803). In 1807, Humphrey Davy carried out his famous experiment to form alkali metals (Na, K) by electrolysis of molten soda or potash. The prospects opened up by these results were such that, for much of the 19th...