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In science and technology, a battery is a device that stores chemical energy and makes it available in an electrical form. Batteries consist of electrochemical devices such as two or more galvanic cells, fuel cells or flow cells. The modern development of batteries started with the Voltaic pile, announced by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800.

Formally, an electrical "battery" is an interconnected array of similar voltaic cells ("cells"). However, in many contexts (other than the expression dry cell) it is common to call a single cell used on its own a battery. A battery is a device in which chemical energy is directly converted to electrical energy. It consists of one or more voltaic cells, each of which is composed of two half cells connected in series by the conductive electrolyte.