The energy-storage frontier: Lithium-ion batteries and beyond
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istory of the lithium-ion battery The story of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery is a fascinating study in how science and technology transform expansive general ideas into specific technology outcomes, advanced by many scientific disciplines and players in diverse international settings. The final product, what is now called the Li-ion battery (illustrated in Figure 1), continues to have a transformational impact on personal electronics, affecting communication, computation, entertainment, information, and the fundamental ways in which we interact with information and people. In recounting this story, we acknowledge the basic themes it illustrates: vision, challenges, course-changing discoveries, outcomes that miss intended targets yet have transformational impacts, and compelling opportunities left on the table. Several accounts of the history of Li-ion batteries have recently appeared.1–9 This article presents a brief overview of the motivations, challenges, and unexpected solutions in Li-ion battery development, as well as the failures and triumphs that have marked their trajectory from conceptualization through commercialization to their dominant place in the market today.
The concept: Li-metal anodes and intercalation cathodes It is easy to understand the appeal of Li as a battery material. As the most reducing element and the lightest metal in the periodic table, Li promises high operating voltage, low weight, and high energy-storage density. These appealing features of Li have been known and discussed for use in primary (nonrechargeable) and secondary (rechargeable) batteries since the 1950s,10–12 and several primary batteries reacting Li with cathodes such as (CF)n, MnO2, aluminum, and iodine were proposed or developed in the 1960s.13 Early work on Li rechargeable batteries used molten lithium and molten sulfur as electrodes, separated by a molten salt as the electrolyte, operating at ∼450°C.13 A pathway for using lithium in room-temperature rechargeable batteries was established in the early 1970s, when Whittingham and others realized that electrochemical intercalation of guest molecules into layered hosts, previously viewed as a synthesis technique, could also be used to store and release energy in battery electrodes.7,8,13–16 One of the triggers for this intellectual leap was the synthesis of more than
George Crabtree, Argonne National Laboratory, USA; [email protected], University of Illinois at Chicago, USA; [email protected], and the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research Elizabeth Kócs, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA; [email protected] Lynn Trahey, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, USA; [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/mrs.2015.259
© 2015 Materials Research Society
MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 40 • DECEMBER 2015 • www.mrs.org/bulletin
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TTHE ENERGY-STORAGE FRONTIER: LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES AND BEYOND
described the origin and emergence of the concept of electrochemical intercalation as a dominant theme for storing and releasing energy in the cathode of a rechar
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