Lithium primary market

The lithium sulfur dioxide and the lithium thionyl chloride systems are specialty batteries. Both have liquid cathode reactants where the electrolyte solvent is the cathode-active material. Both use polymer-bonded carbon cathode constructions. The Li-S02 is a military battery, and the Li-SOCl2 system is used to power automatic meter readers and for down-hole oil well logging. The lithium primary battery market is estimated to be about 1.5 billion in 2007. 

Sapm V (2011) Opportunities in the primary lithium battery market, battery power. Frost Sullivan Webcom Communications, Greenwood Village, CO 80111... 

Batteries based on most combinations of the above types of solvent- lectrolytes and positive electrodes have been produced and tested. Naturallyt only a fraction have reached the stage of commercial manufacture but the wide variety of primary lithium batteries which have reached the market-place during the last 15 years is impressive. Table 10.7 seeks to illustrate the chemistry and performance as welt as the options as regards cells sizes and geometries for the most important lithium primary batteries now available for purchase. 

Figure 18.1 and Table 18.1 give an overview on the wide variety of lithium primary systems which have been at least temporarily introduced into the market. This variety gets remarkably wider if one takes into account also all those systems which were tested on the laboratory scale but not fully developed for practical applications. A small selection of lithium primary batteries which were successful in their special markets shall be described in detail here to show some design and building principles. 

The lithium primary battery continues its steady growth, dominating the camera market and applications requiring high power and performance over long periods of time. It now accounts for over 1 billion in annual sales. 

Lithium primary batteries, with their outstanding performance and characteristics, are being used in increasing quantities in a variety of applications, including cameras, memory backup circuits, security devices, calculators, watches, etc. Nevertheless, Uthium primary batteries have not attained a major share of the market as was anticipated, because of their high initial cost, concerns with safety, the advances made with competitive systems and the cost-effectiveness of the alkaline/manganese battery. World-wide sales of Uthium primary batteries for 1999 have been estimated at 1.1 billion. ... 

A listing of the major lithium primary batteries now in production or advanced development and a summary of their constmctional features, key electrical characteristics, and available sizes are presented in Table 14.6. The types of batteries, their sizes, and some characteristics are subject to change depending on design, standardization, and market development. Manufacturers data should be obtained for specific characteristics. The performance characteristics of these systems, under theoretical conditions, are given in Table 14.4. Comparisons of the performance of the lithium batteries with comparably sized conventional primary batteries are covered in Secs. 6.4 and 7.3. Detailed characteristics of some of these batteries are covered in Secs. 14.5 to 14.12. 

The majority of electrochemical cells to have been constructed are based on PEO, PAN, or PVdF [101]. Recently, the Yuasa Corporation have commercialized solid polymer electrolyte batteries, primarily for use in devices such as smart cards, ID cards, etc. To date, the batteries which have been manufactured and marketed are primary lithium batteries based on a plasticized polymer electrolyte, but a similar secondary battery is expected [120]. 

In the lithium-ion secondary battery, which was put on the market in 1990, the difficulty of the Li+/Li electrode was avoided by use of a carbon negative electrode Cy), which works as a host for Li+ ions by intercalation. The active material for the positive electrode is typically LiCo02, which is layer-structured and also works as a host for Li+ ions. The electrolyte solutions are nearly the same as those used in the primary lithium batteries. A schematic diagram of a lithium-ion battery is shown in Fig. 12.2. The cell reaction is as follows ... 

Lithium tetrafluoroborate, (LiBF4), lithium hexafluorophosphate, (LiPF6), lithium hexafluoroarsenate, (LiAsF ), lithium trifluoromethane sulfonate, (LiSOjCFj), are the electrolyte salts of the 21st Century. The performance of lithium ion cells, primary and secondary lithium cells depends on the purity of these compounds. Several hundred tons of these materials have been produced and many more tons — and perhaps thousands of tons — will be required in the near future. One of the largest automotive producers predicts that there may be a market for 10-15 million pounds of these salts. The demand for Lithium ion primary cells is also very huge in electronics, computers, communication systems and military applications. 

A revolutionary event in the primary battery market was the development of primary lithium batteries in 1973. Lithium is a very attractive metal for battery applications due to its low atomic mass (6.94), its high specific capacity (3.86 Ah g 1), and its high electrochemical reduction potential (—3.035 V) [10]. Research in lithium batteries started in the late 1950s. It was then... 

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