MATERIAL PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF Li-ION BATTERIES FOR VEHICLES APPLICATIONS

Abstract

This paper reviews material issues of development of Li -ion batteries for vehicles application. The most important of them is safety, which is related to application of nonflammable electrolyte with large electrochemical window and possibility of forming protective SEI (solid/electrolyte interface) to prevent plating of lithium on carbon anode during fast charge of the batteries. The amount of electrical energy, which a battery is able to deliver, depend on the electromotive power of the cell as well as on its capacity — both these factors are related to the chemistry of electrode materials. Nanotechnology applied to electrode materials may be a breakthrough for Li -batteries performance due to extreme reactivity of nanoparticles in relation to lithium. The electrode-electrolyte interface phenomena are decisive for a cell lifetime. Review of physicochemical properties of intercalated transition metal compounds with layered, spinel or olivine-type structure is provided in order to correlate their microscopic electronic properties, i.e. the nature of electronic states, with the efficiency of lithium intercalation process, which is controlled by the chemical diffusion coefficient of lithium. Data concerning cell voltage and character of discharge curves for various materials are correlated with the nature of chemical bonding and electronic structure. Proposed electronic model of the intercalation process allow for prediction and design of operational properties of intercalated electrode materials. Proposed method of measuring the Li x M a X b potential on the basis of the measurement of the electromotive force of the Li / Li +/ Li x M a X b electrochemical cell is a powerful tool of solid state physics allowing for direct observation of the Fermi level changes in such systems as a function of lithium content.