Intercalation electrodes for batteries

A number of transition metal oxides can also be intercalated by lithium. One of the best known examples is VsOi3. The VgOu structure, shown in Fig. 11.19, consists of alternate double and single layers of V2OS ribbons. The layers are connected by vertex sharing of octahedral sites, and this leads to a relatively open framework structure (Wilhelmi, Waltersson and Kihlburg, 1971). Insertion of lithium into the oxide matrix 

On first charging the cell the lithium in LiCo02 is moved to the carbon anode, 

It has been known for some time that lithium can be intercalated between the carbon layers in graphite by chemical reaction at a high temperature. Mori et al. (1989) have reported that lithium can be electrochemically intercalated into carbon formed by thermal decomposition to form LiCg. Sony has used the carbon from the thermal decomposition of polymers such as furfuryl alcohol resin. In Fig. 11.23, the discharge curve for a cylindrical cell with the dimensions (f) 20 mm x 50 mm is shown, where the current is 0.2 A. The energy density for a cutoff voltage of 3.7 V is 219 W h 1 which is about two times higher than that of Ni-Cd cells. The capacity loss with cycle number is only 30% after 1200 cycles. This is not a lithium battery in the spirit of those described in Section 11.2. 

Instead it is a known as a lithium ion battery since it is free from lithium metal and hence free from the safety and stability problems of lithium cells. The commercialisation of this cell by Sony represents one of the most important breakthroughs in battery technology for many years and is a major success for solid state electrochemistry. 

High temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have become of great interest as a potentially economical, clean and efficient means of producing electricity in a variety of commercial and industrial applications (Singhal, 1991). A SOFC is based upon the ability of oxide ions to be conducted through a solid at elevated temperatures. Oxide ion conductivity was observed in Zr02 9 mol% YjOj by Nernst as early as 1899. In 1937, Bauer 

---

Whittingham, M.S., The fundamental seienee underlying intercalation electrode for batteries, in Solid State Ionics, Chowdari, B.V.R. and Radhakrishna, S., Eds., World Scientifie, Singapore, 1988, 55-74. 

---