1 In the 1970s, M.S. Whittingham of Exxon used titanium sulfide as the positive electrode material and lithium metal as the negative electrode material to make the first lithium battery.
2 In 1982, R.R. Agarwal and J.R. Selman of the Illinois Institute of Technology discovered that lithium ions have the property of being embedded in graphite, a process that is fast and reversible. At the same time, the lithium battery made of lithium metal has attracted much attention, so people tried to make a rechargeable battery by utilizing the characteristics of lithium ion embedded graphite. The first available lithium ion graphite electrode was successfully produced by Bell Labs.
3 In 1983, M. Thackeray and J. Goodenough discovered that manganese spinel is an excellent cathode material with low cost, stability and excellent conductivity and lithium guiding properties. The decomposition temperature is high, and the oxidation is much lower than that of lithium cobaltate. Even if short circuit or overcharge occurs, the danger of burning and explosion can be avoided.
4 In 1989, A. Manthiram and J. Goodenough discovered that a positive electrode with a polymeric anion would produce a higher voltage.
5 In 1991, Sony released the first commercial lithium-ion battery. Subsequently, lithium-ion batteries revolutionized the face of consumer electronics.
6 In 1996, Padhi and Goodenough discovered that phosphates with olivine structure, such as lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), are superior to conventional cathode materials and have become the mainstream cathode material.
Due to the very active chemical properties of lithium metal, the processing, storage and use of lithium metal are very demanding on the environment, so lithium battery production should be carried out under special environmental conditions. However, due to the many advantages of lithium batteries, lithium batteries are widely used in electronic instruments, digital and home appliances. However, lithium batteries are mostly secondary batteries and disposable batteries. A small number of secondary batteries have poor life and safety.
Later, Sony Corporation of Japan invented a lithium battery with a carbon material as a negative electrode and a lithium-containing compound as a positive electrode. In the process of charge and discharge, no metal lithium exists, only lithium ions, which is a lithium ion battery. When the battery is charged, lithium ions are generated on the positive electrode of the battery, and the generated lithium ions move to the negative electrode through the electrolyte. The carbon as the negative electrode has a layered structure, and it has many micropores. The lithium ions reaching the negative electrode are embedded in the micropores of the carbon layer, and the more lithium ions are embedded, the higher the charging capacity. Similarly, when the battery is discharged (ie, the process we use the battery), the lithium ions embedded in the carbon layer of the negative electrode come out and move back to the positive electrode. The more lithium ions return to the positive electrode, the higher the discharge capacity. What we usually call battery capacity refers to the discharge capacity. During the charge and discharge process of Li-ion, lithium ions are in a state of motion from positive electrode to negative electrode to positive electrode. The Li-ion Batteries are like a rocking chair. The ends of the rocking chair are the two poles of the battery, and the lithium ion runs back and forth like a sportsman in the rocking chair. So Li-ion Batteries is also called a rocking chair battery.
With the widespread use of digital products such as mobile phones, notebook computers, etc., lithium-ion batteries have been widely used in such products with excellent performance, and have gradually developed into other product applications in recent years. The Power Research Institute began commercial production of lithium-ion batteries. Habitually, people also call lithium-ion batteries lithium batteries, but these two batteries are not the same. Now lithium-ion batteries have become mainstream.