No abstract

Among lithium transition metal oxides used as intercalation electrodes for rechargeable lithium batteries, LiCoO 2 is considered to be the most stable in the ␣-NaFeO 2 structure type. It has previously been believed that cation ordering is unaffected by repeated electrochemical removal and insertion. We have conducted direct observations, at the particle scale, of damage and cation disorder induced in LiCoO 2 cathodes by electrochemical cycling. Using transmission electron microscopy imaging and electron diffraction, it was found that (i) individual LiCoO 2 particles in a cathode cycled from 2.5 to 4.35 V against a Li anode are subject to widely varying degrees of damage; (ii) cycling induces severe strain, high defect densities, and occasional fracture of particles; and (iii) severely strained particles exhibit two types of cation disorder, defects on octahedral site layers (including cation substitutions and vacancies) as well as a partial transformation to spinel tetrahedral site ordering. The damage and cation disorder are localized and have not been detected by conventional bulk characterization techniques such as X-ray or neutron diffraction. Cumulative damage of this nature may be responsible for property degradation during overcharging or in long-term cycling of LiCoO 2-based rechargeable lithium batteries.

No abstract

LiAlyCO1−yO2 solid solutions of α‐NaFeO2 structure type have been synthesized from homogeneous hydroxide precursors. X‐ray powder diffraction and scanning transmission electron microscopy show that single‐phase solid solutions are formed up to y ≈ 0.5 at 800°C in air. Electrochemical tests using nonaqueous liquid electrolyte cells shows that the open‐circuit voltage and working voltage increase with Al content as predicted by ab initio calculations [Ceder et al., Nature, 392, 694 (1998)], while capacity fade was significant during cycling at room temperature. However, both the absolute capacity and cycleability were improved at 55°C. © 1999 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.

The ability to store energy on the electric grid would greatly improve its efficiency and reliability while enabling the integration of intermittent renewable energy technologies (such as wind and solar) into baseload supply. Batteries have long been considered strong candidate solutions owing to their small spatial footprint, mechanical simplicity and flexibility in siting. However, the barrier to widespread adoption of batteries is their high cost. Here we describe a lithium-antimony-lead liquid metal battery that potentially meets the performance specifications for stationary energy storage applications. This Li||Sb-Pb battery comprises a liquid lithium negative electrode, a molten salt electrolyte, and a liquid antimony-lead alloy positive electrode, which self-segregate by density into three distinct layers owing to the immiscibility of the contiguous salt and metal phases. The all-liquid construction confers the advantages of higher current density, longer cycle life and simpler manufacturing of large-scale storage systems (because no membranes or separators are involved) relative to those of conventional batteries. At charge-discharge current densities of 275 milliamperes per square centimetre, the cells cycled at 450 degrees Celsius with 98 per cent Coulombic efficiency and 73 per cent round-trip energy efficiency. To provide evidence of their high power capability, the cells were discharged and charged at current densities as high as 1,000 milliamperes per square centimetre. Measured capacity loss after operation for 1,800 hours (more than 450 charge-discharge cycles at 100 per cent depth of discharge) projects retention of over 85 per cent of initial capacity after ten years of daily cycling. Our results demonstrate that alloying a high-melting-point, high-voltage metal (antimony) with a low-melting-point, low-cost metal (lead) advantageously decreases the operating temperature while maintaining a high cell voltage. Apart from the fact that this finding puts us on a desirable cost trajectory, this approach may well be more broadly applicable to other battery chemistries.