The Benefits Of Lithium Ion Battery Materials To Know
The unbeatable merger of high energy and high power density of Li-ion battery makes it the desired technology for portable electronics, hybrid/full electric vehicles and power tools. If most of the gasoline powered transports are replaced by electric vehicles or EVs, then Li-ion batteries will help in reducing a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
As Li-ion batteries have a high energy efficiency, it can be used in a lot of electric grid applications, and also include in the improvement in energy quality harvested from various sources such as wind,geo-thermal, solar and some other renewable energy sources, thereby contributing to more widespread use of these batteries, and helpconstructing an economy that is energy-sustainable. Thus, the Li-ion batteries receive strong interests from both government funding agency and industry, and research and development in this field has thrived in the current years.
Analysing the future, there are a lot of people who hesitate to believe that, in the long run, Li-ion batteries will have the potential to power the world’s demand in storage of portable energy. At present, Li-ion batteries amount to be quite costly for certain applications like transportation and grid. The shortage of Lithium and few of the transition metals that are currently used in Li ion battery materials will bring up this issue.
Accordingly, Li-ion batteries have specific fundamental benefits over other such chemistries. Firstly, the reduction potential of Li is lowest among any element, thereby allowing Li batteries to achieve the highest cell potential. Also, the 3rd lightest element is Lithium and consists the smallest ionic radii among single charged ion. These characteristics permit Li-based batteries to possess high gravimetric as well as volumetric capacity along with power density. Lastly, although multivalent cations permit for greater charge capacity per ion, their mobility is significantly reduced by the additional charge.
Since the solid electrodes undergoing ionic diffusion is consideredas the rate-limiting factor for most battery power performance, an enormous hurdle is presented during the development and advancement of such alternative chemistries.
Cathode in li based battery materials
Intercalation cathode in lithium based battery materials
A cathode is basically a strong network, and has the ability to save foreign ions. These stored ones, can be reversibly eliminated as well as inserted the main network. The guest ion is Li+, in a lithium-based battery and metal chalcogenides is the host network along with transition metal oxides as well as polyanion compounds.
Sulfur and lithium sulphide in lithium based battery material
The theoretical capacity of sulphur is tremendously high at 1675 mAh g−1. Sulphur is also of low cost and it is in abundance in the Earth’s crust. Yet, S based cathodes have a lower potential compared to. Li/Li+, as well as a lower electrical conductivity.
The very high solubility of lithium sulphide in different environmentally friendly solvents (like ethanol) is utilized in lithium based batteries to form different Li2S based nano composites - for example, Li2S nanoparticles which are embedded inside a conductive carbon. No void or free spaces are needed as fully lithiated lithium sulphide does not expand any more afterwards.