Lithium Ion Battery

Q1. Which type of batteries are currently used in EVs?

Ans: Now a day’s all Electric vehicles are coming with Lithium Ion Battery with different specifications.

Q2. What is Lithium Ion Battery?

A lithium-ion battery or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery composed of cells in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode through an electrolyte to the positive electrode during discharge and back when charging. Li-ion cells use an intercalated lithium compound as the material at the positive electrode and typically graphite at the negative electrode.

Q3. How and when Lithium Ion Battery originated?

Li-ion battery first developed in 1965 by NASA. Earlier British chemist M. Stanley in 1974 used Titanium Disulfide (TiS 2 ) as a cathode material which has a layered structure that can take in lithium ions without significant changes to its crystal structure. Exxon tried to commercialize this battery in the late 1970s, but found the synthesis expensive and complex, as TiS 2 is sensitive to moisture and releases toxic H 2 S gas on contact with water. More prohibitively, the batteries were also prone to spontaneously catch fire due to the presence of metallic lithium in the cells.

In 1980 working in separate groups Ned A. Godshall shortly thereafter, Koichi Mizushima and John B. Goodenough, after testing a range of alternative materials, replaced TiS 2 with lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO 2 , or LCO), which has a similar layered structure but offers a higher voltage and is much more stable in air. This material would later be used in the first commercial Li-ion battery, although it did not, on its own, resolve the persistent issue of flammability. The same year, Rachid Yazami demonstrated the reversible electrochemical intercalation of lithium in graphite, and invented the lithium graphite electrode (anode).

These early attempts to develop rechargeable Li-ion batteries used lithium metal anodes, which were ultimately abandoned due to safety concerns, as lithium metal is unstable and prone to dendrite formation, which can cause short-circuiting. The eventual solution was to use an intercalation anode, similar to that used for the cathode, which prevents the formation of lithium metal during battery charging. A variety of anode materials were studied; in 1987, Akira Yoshino patented what would become the first commercial lithium-ion battery using an anode of "soft carbon" (a charcoal-like material) along with Goodenough's previously reported LCO cathode and a carbonate ester-based electrolyte. In 1991, using Yoshino's design, Sony began producing and selling the world's first rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Significant improvements in energy density were achieved in the 1990s by replacing the soft carbon anode first with hard carbon and later with graphite, a concept originally proposed by Jürgen Otto Besenhard in 1974 but considered unfeasible due to unresolved incompatibilities with the electrolytes then in use.

In 2010, global lithium-ion battery production capacity was 20 gigawatt-hours. By 2016, it was 28 GWh, with 16.4 GWh in China. Global production capacity was 767 GWh in 2020, with China accounting for 75%. Production in 2021 is estimated by various sources to be between 200 and 600 GWh, and predictions for 2023 range from 400 to 1,100 GWh.

Q4. What are the contents of any Lithium Ion Battery?

• Cathode ( Negative Electrode) made from Carbon
• Anode (Positive Electrode) is a metal oxide.
• Electrolyte is a lithium salt in an organic solvent.

Cathode :

The positive electrode is typically a metal oxide. The positive electrode is generally one of three materials: a layered oxide (such as lithium cobalt oxide), a polyanion (such as lithium iron phosphate) or a spinel (such as lithium manganese oxide).

The positive electrode is typically made from a chemical compound called lithium-cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) or lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4).

Materials Used:


• Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide NMC, LiNixMnyCozO2 (EV)
• Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminium Oxide NCA, LiNiCoAlO2 (EV)
• Lithium Manganese Oxide LMO, LiMn2O4 (Hybrid EV, Laptop)
• Lithium Iron Phosphate LFP, LiFePO4 ( Tools)
• Lithium Cobalt Oxide LCO, LiCoO2 (Laptop)

Anode :

The negative electrode is generally made from carbon (graphite). Anode materials are the negative electrode in lithium-ion batteries and are paired with cathode materials in a lithium-ion cell. The anode materials in lithium-ion cells act as the host where they reversibly allow lithium-ion intercalation / deintercallation during charge / discharge cycles.

As graphite is limited to a maximum capacity of 372 mAh/g[40] much research has been dedicated to the development of materials that exhibit higher theoretical capacities, and overcoming the technical challenges that presently encumber their implementation.

Materials Used:


• Graphite
• Lithium Titanate LTO, Li4Ti5O12
• Hard Carbon
• Tin/Cobalt Alloy
• Silicon/Carbon

Electrolyte :

Electrolyte alternatives have also played a significant role, for example the lithium polymer battery. Polymer electrolytes are promising for minimizing the dendrite formation of lithium. Polymers are supposed to prevent short circuits and maintain conductivity.

Q5. How much is the general life of a Lithium Ion Battery?

Ans: The general life of a Lithium Ion Battery is two to three years or it also depends on the composition used for making the battery. We can extent this life to 15 to 20 years by recycling, adding or changing the contents of the battery. Also we can say that the average life of a Lithium Ion battery is 300 to 500 charge cycles.

Q6. What is the unit of Lithium Ion Battery or how can we measure the capacity of a Lithium Ion Battery?

Ans: Lithium Ion Battery capacity can be measured by its unit mAh ( mili Ampere hour).

Q7. What are the precautions should be taken while using Lithium Ion Battery?

Ans: Lithium Ion Battery should not overheat as it can lead to internal short circuit and it can explodes flame. Also it should not completely discharge because it will reduce the life of a battery.