Negative electrode

Example

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Connect each material with its function.

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Connected concepts

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Anode

The electrode where oxidation happens. On discharge that is the negative electrode; on charge it is the positive one. Battery makers nonetheless call the negative electrode “the anode” at all times, after its role on discharge.

Copper foil

The negative current collector, typically 6–10 µm thick. Copper is used because it is stable at the low potential of a graphite electrode, where aluminium would alloy with lithium.

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.

Positive electrode

The electrode at the higher potential: a lithium metal oxide or phosphate coated on aluminium foil. It is the lithium source when a cell is built, and industry calls it the cathode.

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. DOE Explains… Batteries

   U.S. Department of Energy

   Topic background · Introductory account of electrodes, electrolyte and conversion between chemical and electrical energy.

2. Current and future lithium-ion battery manufacturing

   Yangtao Liu, Ruihan Zhang, Jun Wang, Yan Wang · iScience · 2021

   Topic background · Electrode preparation, cell assembly, formation and manufacturing trade-offs.