ABSTRACT
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Electrical energy storage systems (ESS) have a history that dates back to at least 1745 when Musschenbroek and Cunaeus were able to store charge in a glass lled with water to produce an electric shock. A simplied approach consisting of metal foil wrapped around the inside and outside of the jar led to the development of the Leyden Jar, essentially a capacitor that stores energy electrostatically. In 1748, Benjamin Franklin coined the term “battery” to describe an array of charged glass plates. A few decades later in 1786, Galvani’s famous experiments involving twitching frog legs and dissimilar metals lead him to believe that bioelectricity was responsible for the apparent electricity. Volta was not satised with Galvani’s explanation and showed in 1799 that combining dissimilar metals that are separated by a salt/acidic solution can generate electricity. A series of these rudimentary electrochemical cells became known as the Volta pile, it became one of the rst commercially available batteries.
