The birth of the lithium-ion battery.

Throughout the 1980s, the development of portable electronic products such as video cameras, notebook computers, and cell phones led to a growing need for rechargeable batteries with greater capacity, or reduced size and weight for a given capacity. However, conventional rechargeable batteries such as lead–acid batteries and nickel–cadmium batteries, as well as nickel–metalhydride batteries, which were under development at the time, posed limitations to reduction in size and weight. Thus a need remained for a new, small, and lightweight rechargeable battery to be put into practical use. The two main classifications for batteries are disposable (primary) and rechargeable (secondary), and batteries may also be classified by the type of electrolyte employed, either aqueous or nonaqueous. Some common battery types are shown in Figure 1 in accordance with these classifications. Aqueous-electrolyte batteries have a disadvantage in that the