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Lithium-ion battery
A lithium-ion battery, or Li-ion battery, is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy density, and energy efficiency and a longer cycle life and calendar life than other types of rechargeable batteries. Also noteworthy is a dramatic improvement in lithium-ion battery properties after their market introduction in 1991; over the following 30 years, their volumetric energy density increased threefold while their cost dropped tenfold. In late 2024 global demand passed 1 terawatt-hour per year, while production capacity was more than twice that.
The invention and commercialization of Li-ion batteries has had a large impact on technology, as recognized by the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Li-ion batteries have enabled portable consumer electronics, laptop computers, cellular phones, and electric cars. Li-ion batteries also see significant use for grid-scale energy storage as well as military and aerospace applications.
M. Stanley Whittingham conceived intercalation electrodes in the 1970s and created the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery, based on a titanium disulfide cathode and a lithium-aluminium anode, although it suffered from safety problems and was never commercialized. John Goodenough expanded on this work in 1980 by using lithium cobalt oxide as a cathode. The first prototype of the modern Li-ion battery, which uses a carbonaceous anode rather than lithium metal, was developed by Akira Yoshino in 1985 and commercialized by a Sony and Asahi Kasei team led by Yoshio Nishi in 1991. Whittingham, Goodenough, and Yoshino were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries can be a fire or explosion hazard as they contain flammable electrolytes. Progress has been made in the development and manufacturing of safer lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion solid-state batteries are being developed to eliminate the flammable electrolyte. Recycled batteries can create toxic waste, including from toxic metals, and are a fire risk. Lithium and other minerals can have significant issues in mining, with lithium being water intensive in often arid regions and other minerals used in some Li-ion chemistries potentially being conflict minerals such as cobalt. Environmental issues have encouraged some researchers to improve mineral efficiency and find alternatives such as lithium iron phosphate lithium-ion chemistries or non-lithium-based battery chemistries such as sodium-ion and iron-air batteries.
"Li-ion battery" can be considered a generic term involving at least 12 different chemistries; see List of battery types. Lithium-ion cells can be manufactured to optimize energy density or power density. Handheld electronics mostly use lithium polymer batteries (with a polymer gel as an electrolyte), a lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO
2) cathode material, and a graphite anode, which together offer high energy density. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO
4), lithium manganese oxide (LiMn
2O
4 spinel, or Li
2MnO
3-based lithium-rich layered materials, LMR-NMC), and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNiMnCoO
2 or NMC) may offer longer life and a higher discharge rate. NMC and its derivatives are widely used in the electrification of transport, one of the main technologies (combined with renewable energy) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
Research on rechargeable Li-ion batteries dates to the 1960s; one of the earliest examples is a CuF
2/Li battery developed by NASA in 1965. The breakthrough that produced the earliest form of the modern Li-ion battery was made by British chemist M. Stanley Whittingham in 1974, who first 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 hydrogen sulfide (H
2S) 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. For this, and other reasons, Exxon discontinued the development of Whittingham's lithium-titanium disulfide battery.
In 1980, working in separate groups Ned A. Godshall et al., and, 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.
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. The first to demonstrate lithium ion reversible intercalation into graphite anodes was Jürgen Otto Besenhard in 1974. Besenhard used organic solvents such as carbonates, however these solvents decomposed rapidly providing short battery cycle life. Later, in 1980, Rachid Yazami used a solid organic electrolyte, polyethylene oxide, which was more stable.
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Lithium-ion battery
A lithium-ion battery, or Li-ion battery, is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy density, and energy efficiency and a longer cycle life and calendar life than other types of rechargeable batteries. Also noteworthy is a dramatic improvement in lithium-ion battery properties after their market introduction in 1991; over the following 30 years, their volumetric energy density increased threefold while their cost dropped tenfold. In late 2024 global demand passed 1 terawatt-hour per year, while production capacity was more than twice that.
The invention and commercialization of Li-ion batteries has had a large impact on technology, as recognized by the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Li-ion batteries have enabled portable consumer electronics, laptop computers, cellular phones, and electric cars. Li-ion batteries also see significant use for grid-scale energy storage as well as military and aerospace applications.
M. Stanley Whittingham conceived intercalation electrodes in the 1970s and created the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery, based on a titanium disulfide cathode and a lithium-aluminium anode, although it suffered from safety problems and was never commercialized. John Goodenough expanded on this work in 1980 by using lithium cobalt oxide as a cathode. The first prototype of the modern Li-ion battery, which uses a carbonaceous anode rather than lithium metal, was developed by Akira Yoshino in 1985 and commercialized by a Sony and Asahi Kasei team led by Yoshio Nishi in 1991. Whittingham, Goodenough, and Yoshino were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries can be a fire or explosion hazard as they contain flammable electrolytes. Progress has been made in the development and manufacturing of safer lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion solid-state batteries are being developed to eliminate the flammable electrolyte. Recycled batteries can create toxic waste, including from toxic metals, and are a fire risk. Lithium and other minerals can have significant issues in mining, with lithium being water intensive in often arid regions and other minerals used in some Li-ion chemistries potentially being conflict minerals such as cobalt. Environmental issues have encouraged some researchers to improve mineral efficiency and find alternatives such as lithium iron phosphate lithium-ion chemistries or non-lithium-based battery chemistries such as sodium-ion and iron-air batteries.
"Li-ion battery" can be considered a generic term involving at least 12 different chemistries; see List of battery types. Lithium-ion cells can be manufactured to optimize energy density or power density. Handheld electronics mostly use lithium polymer batteries (with a polymer gel as an electrolyte), a lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO
2) cathode material, and a graphite anode, which together offer high energy density. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO
4), lithium manganese oxide (LiMn
2O
4 spinel, or Li
2MnO
3-based lithium-rich layered materials, LMR-NMC), and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNiMnCoO
2 or NMC) may offer longer life and a higher discharge rate. NMC and its derivatives are widely used in the electrification of transport, one of the main technologies (combined with renewable energy) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
Research on rechargeable Li-ion batteries dates to the 1960s; one of the earliest examples is a CuF
2/Li battery developed by NASA in 1965. The breakthrough that produced the earliest form of the modern Li-ion battery was made by British chemist M. Stanley Whittingham in 1974, who first 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 hydrogen sulfide (H
2S) 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. For this, and other reasons, Exxon discontinued the development of Whittingham's lithium-titanium disulfide battery.
In 1980, working in separate groups Ned A. Godshall et al., and, 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.
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. The first to demonstrate lithium ion reversible intercalation into graphite anodes was Jürgen Otto Besenhard in 1974. Besenhard used organic solvents such as carbonates, however these solvents decomposed rapidly providing short battery cycle life. Later, in 1980, Rachid Yazami used a solid organic electrolyte, polyethylene oxide, which was more stable.