Li-Ion Battery Performance

Although the electrode/electrolyte interlace phenomena on the positive electrodes are considered less important than those on the negative electrodes for Li-ion batteries performances, this interface zone between the active positive material and the liquid electrolyte is the site of a number of complex processes directly linked to the batteries aging. 

As illustrated in Table 35.12 and Table 35.13, Li-ion batteries are available in a wide range of sizes from 0.6 to 160 Ah in both cylindrical and prismatic designs with a range of aspect ratios. Li-ion battery performance has steadily improved, in the period 1996 to 1999, the specific energy of 18650-type cells increased 8% per year while energy density increased 14% per year, on average. 

Yesibolati N, Shahid M, Chen W, Hedhili MN, Reuter MC, Ross FM, Alshareef HN (2014) Sn02 anode surface passivation by atomic layer deposited Hf02 improves Li-ion battery performance. Small 10 2849-2858... 

Chapter 11 reports the use of carbon materials in the fast growing consumer eleetronies applieation of lithium-ion batteries. The principles of operation of a lithium-ion battery and the mechanism of Li insertion are reviewed. The influence of the structure of carbon materials on anode performance is described. An extensive study of the behavior of various carbons as anodes in Li-ion batteries is reported. Carbons used in commereial Li-ion batteries are briefly reviewed. 

Once in an operational battery, the separator should be physically and chemically stable to the electrochemical environment inside the cell. The separator should prevent migration of particles between electrodes, so the effective pore size should be less than 1pm. Typically, a Li-ion battery might be used at a C rate, which corresponds to 1-3 mAcm2, depending on electrode area the electrical resistivity of the separator should not limit battery performance under any conditions. 

The thermodynamic properties of magnesium make it a natural choice for use as an anode material in rechargeable batteries, as it may provide a considerably higher energy density than the commonly used lead-acid and nickel-cadmium systems, while in contrast to Pb and Cd, magnesium is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and safe to handle. However, the development of Mg-ion batteries has so far been limited by the kinetics of Mg " " diffusion and the lack of suitable electrolytes. Actually, in spite of an expected general similarity between the processes of Li and Mg ion insertion into inorganic host materials, most of the compounds that exhibit fast and reversible Li ion insertion perform very poorly in Mg " ions. Hence, there... 

Zhu et al. [94] reported the synthesis of Sn02 semiconductor nanoparticles by ultrasonic irradiation of an aqueous solution of SnCLj and azodicarbonamide under ambient air. They found that the sonochemically synthesized Sn02 nanoparticles improved remarkably the performance of Li ion batteries such that there was about threefold increase (from 300 to 800 mAh/g) in the reversible capacity in the first lithiation to delithiation cycles. Similarly the irreversible capacity also increased by about 70% (from 800 to 1400 mA h/g). Wang et al. [95] reported the synthesis of positively charged tin porphyrin adsorbed onto the surface of silica and used as photochemically active templates to synthesise platinum and palladium shell and... 

The Li-Ion system was developed to eliminate problems of lithium metal deposition. On charge, lithium metal electrodes deposit moss-like or dendrite-like metallic lithium on the surface of the metal anode. Once such metallic lithium is deposited, the battery is vulnerable to internal shorting, which may cause dangerous thermal run away. The use of carbonaceous material as the anode active material can completely prevent such dangerous phenomenon. Carbon materials can intercalate lithium into their structure (up to LiCe). The intercalation reaction is very reversible and the intercalated carbons have a potential about 50mV from the lithium metal potential. As a result, no lithium metal is found in the Li-Ion cell. The electrochemical reactions at the surface insert the lithium atoms formed at the electrode surface directly into the carbon anode matrix (Li insertion). There is no lithium metal, only lithium ions in the cell (this is the reason why Li-Ion batteries are named). Therefore, carbonaceous material is the key material for Li-Ion batteries. Carbonaceous anode materials are the key to their ever-increasing capacity. No other proposed anode material has proven to perform as well. The carbon materials have demonstrated lower initial irreversible capacities, higher cycle-ability and faster mobility of Li in the solid phase. 

Thus, the electrochemical properties of the individual carbon materials are not so high as to enable their commercial usage in Li-ion batteries. In order to improve the performance, we started making composite materials from two individual carbon ingredients. Figure 1 shows a typical result of electrochemical tests of an electrode made of a blend of graphite and soft carbon treated at 1100°C (Cl 100) in comparison with the discharge curves of the individual constituents. 

In conclusion, the surface modified natural graphite has good performance in PC based electrolyte and also meets the power requirements for hybrid electrical vehicle applications. Surface carbon coated natural graphite SLC1015 is a very promising material in high power Li-ion batteries with lower cost, reasonable safety, and low irreversible capacity. 

Xie, J., et al., Self-assembly of CoFe204/graphene sandwich by a controllable and general route towards high-performance anode for Li-ion batteries. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2012. 22(37) p. 19738-19743. 

Despite quite some progress reported in improving the performance and lifetime of anode materials, a great deal of research needs to be dedicated to the improvement of the cathode in Li-ion batteries. This task was addressed by hydrothermal carbon coating techniques. Thus, Olivine LiMP04 (Me = Mn, Fe, and Co) cathodes with a thin carbon coating have been prepared by a rapid, one-pot, microwave-assisted hy-... 

Very little work (relative to research of electrode materials and electrolytes) is directed toward characterizing and developing new separators. Similarly, not much attention has been given to separators in publications reviewing batteries.A number of reviews on the on cell fabrication, their performance, and application in real life have appeared in recent years, but none have discussed separators in detail. Recently a few reviews have been published in both English and Japanese which discuss different types of separators for various batteries. A detailed review of lead-acid and lithium-ion (li-ion) battery separators was published by Boehnstedt and Spot-nitz, respectively, in the Handbook of Battery Materials. Earlier Kinoshita et al. had done a survey of different types of membranes/separators used in different electrochemical systems, including batteries."... 

Since Li-ion batteries were commercialized by Sony, their energy density has been improved by ca. 10% every year to reach 2.5 times higher value than that of the first commercial cell. The transition of battery performances is summarized in Figure 12.9. 

To get high-rate performance in Li-ion batteries, Moriguchi et al. [209] have studied the nanocomposite of Ti02 and CNTs. SWCNT-containing mesoporous Ti02 has shown better rate performance compared to that of the Ti02 without CNTs. 

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