Can you image a world today without batteries? A world without the wireless power? It would be hard in today’s mobile power society, where cell phones and laptops are the norm.  This begs the question, why were batteries invented so long ago and what purpose did they serve? And what should I expect to see in the near future?

Ever since we discovered the amazing potential of electrical energy, early scientists worked towards capturing and storing it for convenient use.

The First Discovery

In 1936, German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig uncovered what he believed was an ancient battery dating back from 250 BC to AD 224 at a 2000 year old village in Baghdad. This battery, also known as the “Baghdad Battery” consisted of a 6-inch-high pot containing a copper cylinder made of a rolled-up copper sheet, which housed a single iron rod. At the top, the iron rod was isolated from the copper by asphalt stoppers. The cylinder was intentionally not watertight as to allow the iron rod to be surrounded in electrolyte solution when the entire jar was filled. Researchers believe that lemon juice, grape juice, or vinegar was used as an acidic agent to jumpstart the electrochemical reaction between the two metals.

What puzzles researchers is the fact that there was little, if any, use for electricity in those days. Since electricity barely became useful to humanity in the late 1800s, many assumptions popped up regarding the use of these mysterious jars. It is believed that the Parthians who ruled Baghdad used these jars to electroplate silver.

1800

Although the Baghdad battery could possibly be the very first of its kind, it’s not guaranteed. With this mysterious discovery aside, the first official battery was actually invented in 1800 by Alessandro Volta. The voltaic pile, named after its inventor, consisted of two electrodes in the form of disks: one made of zinc, and the other of copper. The disks were stacked on top of each other separated by cardboard disks soaked with acid or salt solutions. This was a tremendously important scientific discovery because it was the first method found for generating a sustained electrical current.

1836

British researcher John Frederich Daniell developed the Daniell Cell in order to overcome the Voltaic Pile’s inability to deliver currents for long periods of time. This cell consisted of two containers; one filled with zinc sulfate, the other withcopper(II) sulfate. The zinc sulfate acted as the anode while the copper(II) sulfate was the cathode; both connected to each other with the use of a salt bridge. A zinc electrode within the zinc sulfate solution would then be used as thenegative(-) terminal while a copper electrode within the copper(II) sulfate was used as the positive(+) terminal. This battery, which only produced 1.1 volts, was used to power telegraphs, telephones, and even doorbells for over 100 years.

1859

Gaston Planté, a French physics professor at the Polytechnic Association for the Development of Popular Instruction, invented the lead acid battery in 1859. This cell, being the first battery able to recharge, was made of two sheets of rolled up lead separated by a linen cloth all immersed in a glass jar of sulfuric acid solution. The following year, Planté presented a nine-cell lead-acid battery to the Academy of Sciences.