Lithium-ion battery

Example

Use in Lemonergy

Separate chemistry from form factor.

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Graphite

Layered carbon, the negative active material of nearly all lithium-ion cells. Lithium intercalates between its layers up to LiC₆, a theoretical 372 mAh/g, at a potential about 0.1 V above lithium metal.

Intercalation

Lithium inserting into, and leaving, the host structure of an electrode material — between graphite layers, for example — without destroying it.

LFP

A positive electrode material, LiFePO₄, giving cells a nominal voltage around 3.2 V, long cycle life and good thermal stability, but less energy per kilogram than nickel-rich oxides. Its flat voltage curve makes state of charge hard to read from voltage alone.

Lithium

The lightest metal, with the most negative electrode potential, which is why lithium cells have the highest voltage and specific energy of any practical chemistry. Inside a lithium-ion cell it exists only as Li⁺ ions in the electrolyte and in the electrode hosts, never as metal.

NMC

A family of layered-oxide positive electrode materials, LiNiₓMnᵧCo₁₋ₓ₋ᵧO₂, used in many electric-vehicle cells. Variants are named by their metal ratio: NMC811 has eight parts nickel to one each of manganese and cobalt.

Rocking-chair mechanism

The working principle of a lithium-ion cell: lithium ions rock back and forth between host electrodes and are neither plated nor dissolved. Because the electrodes are only hosts, the ion count stays fixed and the cell can cycle thousands of times.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

1. A reflection on lithium-ion battery cathode chemistry

   Arumugam Manthiram · Nature Communications · 2020

   Topic background · Layered oxides, spinels and polyanion cathodes; links between composition, structure and performance.