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In 1800, as the result of a professional disagreement over the galvanic response advocated by Galvani (he of the electricty twitching frog leg’s fame), he invented the voltaic pile, an early electric battery, which produced a steady electric current.[6] Volta had determined that the most effective pair of dissimilar metals to produce electricity was zinc and silver. Initially he experimented with individual cells in series, each cell being a wine goblet filled with brine into which the two dissimilar electrodes were dipped. The voltaic pile replaced the goblets with cardboard soaked in brine. The battery made by Volta is credited as the first electrochemical cell. (via wiki)

Note that Volta is also the first to characterize the gas Methane. In fact, he even devised an air gun contraption that relied on igniting the flammable gas (see this link for pictures). For this and his battery invention, he was made a count by Napoleon.