Lithium batteries battery constituents

The lithium-polymer version of these batteries is another area where work is needed. Lithium-polymer batteries are being rapidly developed for portable consumer electronics applications and may be used in the future for EV/HEVs since the polymer design mitigates safety concerns regarding lithium metal in large cells. Some work to develop recycling processes is under way, but no details have been published and no process test data have been made available. Although many of the constituents are shared in common with the Li-ion battery system, the presence of a solid polymer... 

Solid polymer electrolytes for lithium batteries have been described that are based on similar constituents [116]. 

Other common anode materials for thermal batteries are lithium alloys, such as Li/Al and Li/B, lithium metal in a porous nickel or iron matrix, magnesium and calcium. Alternative cathode constituents include CaCr04 and the oxides of copper, iron or vanadium. Other electrolytes used are binary KBr-LiBr mixtures, ternary LiF-LiCl-LiBr mixtures and, more generally, all lithium halide systems, which are used particularly to prevent electrolyte composition changes and freezing out at high rates when lithium-based anodes are employed. 

The inert materials of construction will be the same as in a fresh battery. The actual batteries that arrive at the Lithium Recycling Center will be somewhere between the two levels of constituents shown above. 

During the high temperature melting, all the base metals are produced as an alloy that could be refined and separated into individual constituents. Elements like Al, Ca and Li are slagged off If the economics allow it, lithium can be recovered from the slag as lithium carbonate (Val Eas process), and if Ni-MH batteries are processed, the REE in the slag could be recovered and processed into a concentrate. 

Since different active materials nsed in lithium-ion cells have very different responses to the cell s abnse, the materials selection is crucial from the battery safety and performance point of view. The battery design process usually starts from the selection of cell chemistry and then the safety of the system is analytically determined from the snnunary contribution of the individual components. Chapter 1 presented an introdnction to the constituents of the lithium-ion cell the anode, cathode, separator, and electrolyte. This chapter will discuss safety impact of these components, as well as the internal cell protection devices. A discussion of the selected options of the cell design and packaging (e.g., cell aspect ratio) in terms of thermal and safety properties will be also included. The chapter will conclude with examples of single cell and cell pack safety testing. 

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