SECONDARY BATTERIES – LITHIUM RECHARGEABLE SYSTEMS | Negative Electrodes: Lithium Metal

Abstract

Lithium metal has been used as anode material for primary lithium batteries. This is due to a stable surface film on lithium metal anode, which is called solid electrolyte interface. The presence of this surface film provides long life of primary lithium batteries. Therefore, lithium metal anode has been used in both coin and cylindrical types of primary lithium batteries. On the contrary, lithium metal anode has been investigated as anode for rechargeable lithium batteries, because of its extremely high energy density. However, rechargeable lithium batteries have not been commercialized, yet, due to their low cycle life and safety issue. Here, the history of research on lithium metal anode is reviewed and many efforts on realization of rechargeable lithium metal anode are introduced, especially from the point of view of surface chemistry on lithium metal. In order to understand the electrochemical behavior of lithium metal anode, this surface chemistry should be discussed. So far, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electrochemical microbalance measurement, and other analytical methods have been employed to clarify the surface electrochemistry of lithium metal. Here, a part of experimental results are summarized to discuss the electrochemistry of rechargeable lithium metal anode. In future, this review may be useful to improve rechargeability and reduce safety problem of lithium metal anode.