When an electrochemical cell no longer works, can it be recharged before it can be used again?
Answers
This question, which appears simple and direct, is actually filled with subtlety and complication. First, the definition of a battery must be established. There are a variety of chemical and mechanical devices that are called batteries, although they operate on different physical principles. A battery for the purposes of this explanation will be a device that can store energy in a chemical form and convert that stored chemical energy into electrical energy when needed. These are the most common batteries, the ones with the familiar cylindrical shape. There are no batteries that actually store electrical energy; all batteries store energy in some other form. Even within this restrictive definition, there are many possible chemical combinations that can store electrical energy--a list too long to go into in this short explanation.
There are two fundamental types of chemical storage batteries: the rechargeable, or secondary cell, and the non-rechargeable, or primary cell. In terms of storing energy or discharging electricity, they are similar, it is simply a question of whether or not the chemical processes involved permit multiple charging and discharging.
Before answering this question it is also necessary to distinguish between a galvanic cell and a battery, as I have defined it. The former is the fundamental unit of electrochemical storage and discharge. A battery is comprised of at least one but possibly many such cells appropriately connected. Because the cell is where the actual action of storage and discharge takes place, this answer will concentrate on what happens at that level.