Introduction to the development and application of lithium-ion batteries

"Lithium Battery" is a type of battery made of lithium metal or lithium alloy as a negative electrode material and using a non-aqueous electrolyte solution. In 1912, lithium metal batteries were first proposed and studied by GilbertN Lewis. In the 1970s, M.S. hitTIngham proposed and began to study lithium-ion batteries. Due to the very active chemical characteristics of lithium metal, the processing, preservation and use of lithium metal have very high environmental requirements. Therefore, Lithium Batteries have not been used for a long time. With the development of science and technology, lithium batteries have now become the mainstream. Lithium batteries can be broadly divided into two categories: lithium metal batteries and lithium ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries do not contain lithium in the metallic state and are rechargeable. The fifth generation of rechargeable batteries, lithium metal batteries, was born in 1996, and its safety, specific capacity, self-discharge rate and performance-to-price ratio are better than lithium-ion batteries.

The development process of lithium batteries:

In 1970, Exxon's M.S. hitTIngham used titanium sulfide as a positive electrode material and lithium metal as a negative electrode material to make the first lithium battery. The positive electrode material of lithium battery is manganese dioxide or thionyl chloride, and the negative electrode is lithium. After the battery is assembled, the battery has a voltage and does not need to be charged. Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion batteries) are developed from lithium batteries. For example, the button batteries used in cameras in the past were lithium batteries. This battery can also be charged, but the cycle performance is not good, in the charge and discharge cycle process is easy to form lithium crystallization, resulting in internal short circuit of the battery, so under normal circumstances this battery is prohibited to charge. In 1980, J.Goodenough discovered that lithium cobaltate could be used as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries.

In 1982, the University of Illinois Institute of Technology (theIllinoisInsTItuteofTechnology) R.R.A Garwal and J.R.S Elman found that embedded lithium ion has the properties of graphite, the process is fast and reversible. At the same time, the use of lithium batteries made of metal lithium, its safety risks have been concerned, so people are trying to use the characteristics of lithium ions embedded in graphite to make rechargeable batteries. The first usable lithium-ion graphite electrode was successfully produced by Bell Laboratories.

In 1983, M. Hackeray, J. Goodenough et al. found that manganese spinel is an excellent cathode material with low price, stability and excellent conductivity and lithium conductivity. Its decomposition temperature is high, and the oxidation is much lower than lithium cobaltate, even if there is short circuit, overcharge, but also to avoid the danger of combustion, explosion.

In 1989, Anthiram and J. Goodenough discovered that the positive electrode of the polyanion would produce a higher voltage.

In 1992, the Japanese company SONY invented a lithium battery with carbon material as the negative electrode and a lithium-containing compound as the positive electrode. In the charging and discharging process, there is no metal lithium, only lithium ions, which is a lithium-ion battery. As a result, lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised consumer electronics. These batteries, which use lithium cobaltate as the positive electrode material, are still the main power source for portable electronic devices.

In 1996, Padhi and Goodenough discovered that phosphates with olivine structures, such as lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), are safer than conventional cathode materials, particularly resistant to high temperatures, and far more resistant to overcharging than conventional lithium-ion battery materials. As a result, it has become a mainstream positive electrode material for high-current, high-power lithium batteries.

Throughout the history of battery development, we can see three characteristics of the current development of the world battery industry: first, the rapid development of green batteries, including lithium-ion batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, etc.; second, the transformation of primary batteries into batteries, which is in line with the sustainable development strategy; third, the battery is further developed in the direction of small, light and thin. Among commercial rechargeable batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the highest specific energy, especially polymer lithium-ion batteries, which can achieve the thinness of rechargeable batteries. Because lithium-ion batteries have high volume specific energy and mass specific energy, can be charged and are pollution-free, and have the three characteristics of the current development of the battery industry, there is rapid growth in developed countries. The development of telecommunications and information markets, especially the heavy use of mobile phones and notebook computers, has created market opportunities for lithium-ion batteries. The polymer lithium-ion battery in the lithium-ion battery, with its unique advantages in safety, will gradually replace the liquid electrolyte lithium-ion battery and become the mainstream of lithium-ion batteries. The polymer lithium-ion battery, known as the "battery of the 21st century", will usher in a new era of batteries, and its development prospects are very optimistic.

In March 2015, Sharp and Professor Tanaka of Kyoto University successfully developed a lithium-ion battery with a lifespan of up to 70 years. The long-life lithium-ion battery produced this time has a volume of 8 cubic centimetres and can be charged and discharged 25,000 times. And Sharp said that the longevity of the lithium-ion battery after the actual charge and discharge of 10,000 times, its performance is still stable.

The future of lithium batteries:

Various materials have been studied in order to develop variants with better performance. For example, the UAE lithium battery bus (made in the Netherlands) is an unprecedented product. For example, lithium sulphur dioxide batteries and lithium thionyl chloride batteries are very characteristic. Their positive active material is also the solvent of the electrolyte. This structure can only be found in non-aqueous electrochemical systems. Therefore, research on lithium batteries has also promoted the development of the electrochemical theory of non-aqueous systems. In addition to the use of various non-aqueous solvents, polymer thin-film batteries have also been studied.

Lithium batteries are widely used in energy storage power systems such as hydraulic, thermal, wind and solar power stations, uninterruptible power supplies for post and telecommunications, and power tools, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, electric vehicles, appliances, aerospace and other fields.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in portable electrical devices such as laptops, cameras and mobile communications due to their unique performance advantages. The large-capacity lithium-ion battery developed has been tested in electric vehicles and is expected to become one of the main power sources for electric vehicles in the 21st century, and will be used in side satellites, aerospace and energy storage. With the shortage of energy and the pressure of environmental protection in the world. Lithium is widely used in the electric vehicle industry, especially the emergence of Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries, but also promote the development and application of lithium battery industry.

The introduction of the "Plan" is expected to change the world's lithium battery pattern.

On April 18, the State Council discussed and approved the "Energy Conservation and New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which clarified the key strategic direction of pure electric drive for the transformation of the automobile industry and promoted the popularisation of non-plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. In 2015, the cumulative production and sales of pure electric and hybrid vehicles reached 500,000 units, with a target of more than 5 million units by 2020.

The introduction of "planning" has caused great concern in the community. Many experts believe that this move will promote the automotive industry to enter a new round of development, in addition, but also virtually for the energy-saving and new energy vehicle core components of the power battery industry outlined a huge market outline.

"2013-2017 China lithium battery industry production and sales demand and investment forecast analysis report" data statistics, in 2012 China's new energy vehicles, power grid energy storage, special vehicles, communication base stations and other areas of finished lithium battery pack market size of 3.5 billion yuan, compared with 2.6 billion yuan in 2011 an increase of 34.6%. Among them, the application of new energy vehicles accounted for 57%.

Since the release of Apple's smartphone in 2007 and the subsequent launch of tablet computers, the world has entered the era of intelligence, and the strong demand for smartphones and tablet computers has rapidly promoted the sales of digital lithium batteries, which is the largest sales of mobile phone lithium batteries.

In 2012, the rapid adjustment of the product structure of the digital lithium battery industry, on the one hand, the sales of soft pack lithium batteries and cylindrical lithium batteries increased rapidly, maintaining a growth rate of more than 30%, and on the other hand, the market size of aluminium shell square lithium batteries shrank rapidly. The entire digital lithium battery industry is undergoing profound changes, and for investors, whether they can grasp the changes in market trends in the transformation will determine the future fate of the company.

Lithium battery application:

With the development of microelectronic technology in the 20th century, miniaturisation of devices is increasing, and high demands are placed on power supplies. Lithium batteries then entered a large-scale practical stage.

One of the first applications was lithium sub-galvanic batteries used in pacemakers. Because the self-discharge rate of lithium sub-batteries is very low, the discharge voltage is very flat. This allows pacemakers to be implanted in the human body for long-term use.

Lithium-manganese batteries generally have a nominal voltage higher than 3.0 volts and are more suitable for integrated circuit power supplies, which are widely used in computers, calculators and watches.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in mobile phones, laptops, power tools, electric vehicles, street lamps, airplane lights and small household appliances, which can be considered the largest group of applications.