Electric batteries - Lithium batteries

Lithium, which has the most negative potential and the highest mass capacity of all solid anode materials, has emerged as the metal for achieving the highest mass energies in batteries, when combined with a high-potential cathode.

The number of different lithium batteries is significant, as the search for suitable cathodes to achieve good performance has led to the examination of many different materials. This variety of cathode materials can be explained by the possibility of studying combinations of several elements: transition metal oxides or sulfides, halides, oxyhalides, carbons, certain organic compounds, etc. These batteries, which have a cathode that is either solid (Li/CuO, Li/MnO ₂ , Li/CF _x , etc.) or liquid (Li/SOCl ₂ , Li/SO ₂ , etc.), and may feature a solid electrolyte in some cases, have not all resulted in significant industrial manufacturing.

The use of these batteries is growing all the time, particularly in portable and hand-held applications, where the compactness of the power source is crucial.

Only batteries that have been manufactured in significant numbers will be examined in detail in this text.

The complete study of the subject includes the articles :

• D 3 320 – Electric batteries. General presentation ;

• D 3 321 – Electric batteries. Zinc batteries ;

• D 3 322 – Electric batteries. Lithium batteries (this article) ;

• D 3 323 – Electric batteries. Activatable batteries ;

• Doc. D 3 325 – Electric batteries. Find out more.