Lithium-Thionyl-Chloride Battery

High energy density batteries with long shelf life, developed originally for military use, are based on lithium and thionyl chloride. These batteries are used ia backup or standby power sources for computer, missile, and telephone systems (191,192). 

FIGURE 19.7 Quarter cross-sectional view of the cell stack of a lithium/thionyl chloride reserve battery. Courtesy of Alliant Power Sources Company.)... 

J. Nolting and N. A. Remer, Development and Manufacture of a Large Mirlticell Lithium-Thionyl Chloride Reserve Battery, Proc. 35th International Power Sources Symp., 1992. 

Lithium-thionyl chloride primary batteries 9/9 9.4 Lithium-vanadium pentoxide primary battery 9/10... 

Eagle Picher also manufacture lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries. Three types of electrolyte reservoir configurations are available, as shown in Figure 24.9, with the following characteristics ... 

Reserve batteries Gas-activated lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries are now supplied by Eagle Picher. It will be recalled that Honeywell supply lithium-sulphur dioxide and lithium-thionyl chloride gas-activated reserve batteries. Some of the advantages claimed for this battery design concept are as follows ... 

The reserve configuration eliminates most safety concerns associated with lithium-thionyl chloride active batteries. 

No-load conditions can be safely tolerated by lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries. 

Eagle Picher develop and manufacture reserve batteries for a wide range of both military and aerospace applications. Eagle Picher lithium-thionyl chloride reserve batteries have found applications in mines, missiles, and re-entry vehicles where high-power, high energy density and multi-secdon, multi-tap configurations are required. 

Figure 56.19 Capacity retention of Eagle Richer lithium-polycarbon monofluoride (LDFS) and lithium-thionyl chloride (LTC) batteries (Courtesy of Eagle Richer)...

Honeywell, Inc., Power Resources Centre, 104 Roek Road, Horsham 19044, Pennsylvania Primary batteries, lithium-sulphur dioxide, lithium thionyl chloride, lithium-vanadium pentoxide. 

Primary batteries, magnesium types, lithium types secondary batteries, silver-zinc, silver-cadmium, lithium-thionyl chloride, lithium—sulphur dioxide, nickel-zinc. 

For about a century after the invention of the Ledanche cell (and the lead-acid rechargeable battery) the highest voltage attained in any battery was 2.1V, and primary cells delivered a maximum voltage of about 1.5 V. This changed in the mid 1960s, when the Li-thionyl chloride (LiSOCb) battery was introduced. In this and other nonaqueous lithium batteries, a potential of about 3.0 V was achieved. 

Health nd Safety Factors. Thionyl chloride is a reactive acid chloride which can cause severe bums to the skin and eyes and acute respiratory tract injury upon vapor inhalation. The hydrolysis products, ie, hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide, are beheved to be the primary irritants. Depending on the extent of inhalation exposure, symptoms can range from coughing to pulmonary edema (182). The LC q (rat, inhalation) is 500 ppm (1 h), the DOT label is Corrosive, Poison, and the OSHA PEL is 1 ppm (183). The safety aspects of lithium batteries (qv) containing thionyl chloride have been reviewed (184,185). 

The Li-SOCl2 battery consists of a lithium-metal foil anode, a porous carbon cathode, a porous non-woven glass or polymeric separator between them, and an electrolyte containing thionyl chloride and a soluble salt, usually lithium tetrachloro-aluminate. Thionyl chloride serves as both the cathode active material and the elec-... 

Table 9. Specifications of cylindrical lithium—thionyl chloride batteries...

In batteries of this type, solntions of lithium salts in thionyl chloride, SOCI2, are nsed as the electrolyte. Exceptionally, this strongly oxidizing solvent also serves as the active material for the cathodic reaction. Thus, during discharge thionyl chloride is electrochemicaUy reduced at a cathode made of carbon materials ... 

Apart from the work toward practical lithium batteries, two new areas of theoretical electrochemistry research were initiated in this context. The first is the mechanism of passivation of highly active metals (such as lithium) in solutions involving organic solvents and strong inorganic oxidizers (such as thionyl chloride). The creation of lithium power sources has only been possible because of the specific character of lithium passivation. The second area is the thermodynamics, mechanism, and kinetics of electrochemical incorporation (intercalation and deintercalation) of various ions into matrix structures of various solid compounds. In most lithium power sources, such processes occur at the positive electrode, but in some of them they occur at the negative electrode as well. 

In contact with aluminium, disulphur dichloride provokes the instantaneous ignition of the metal. Lithium batteries contain thionyl chloride. A large number of explosions of batteries have been explained by the violent interaction of lithium with the chloride, which was assumed to be reieased through the anode. Sodium combusts in contact with thionyl chloride vapour heated to a temperature of 300°C. Finally, sulphur dichloride gives rise to explosive mixtures on impact with sodium. 

E—Lithium Lithium anode Iodine, sulfur dioxide, thionyl chloride, and iron disulfide Secondary Lithium-iron disulfide batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and lithium polymer batteries... 

An experimental investigation of explosion hazards in lithium-sulfinyl chloride cells on forced discharge showed cathode limited cells are safe, but anode limited cells may explode without warning signs [1]. Extended reversal at -40°C caused explosion on warming to ambient temperature, owing to thermal runaway caused by accelerated corrosion of lithium [2], The violent explosion of a large prismatic cell of a battery is described [3], Another study of explosion mechanisms in lithium/thionyl chloride batteries is reported [4]... 

Battery technology has developed enormously in recent years. One of the most useful types of batteries is known as the lithium battery, but there are actually several designs only one of which will be described. In one of the types, the anode is constructed of lithium or a lithium alloy hence the name. A graphite cathode is used, and the electrolyte is a solution of Li[AlCl4] in thionyl chloride. At the anode, lithium is oxidized,... 

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