How Lithium-ion Batteries Work ?
Human beings have used batteries to provide electrical power for many decades. At the heart of the battery concept is chemical reaction that produces electrical power through movement of electrons. Batteries are a contained source of power generation, on a scale smaller than the large power generation that provides homes and businesses with their electricity.
Lithium-ion batteries have replaced many of the older types of batteries that contained mercury, cadmium and other chemicals that could be damaging to the environment and even dangerous to humans and other animals. The lithium-ion battery has cells to generate electrical power, as other batteries do. There are electrodes – positive and negative – and the chemical mixture that makes the battery work (often referred to as the electrolyte). Specific materials make up the positive and negative electrodes to make them work in the required manner.
When this type of battery is charged, electrons move from the lithium-based material of the positive electrode and finish at the negative electrode (often some sort of carbon-based material). This movement of electrons causes the battery to store energy. The electrons move from the negative electrode/contact back to the positive contact/electrode when the battery is used. The electrolyte acts as an insulating material and does not take up or interfere with electron movement. It can be said that the electrons move through the electrolyte material.
Electrons move from one battery electrode to the other when an outside circuit is connected and switched on. If the connection is broken or the outside circuit is not operating the electrons don’t move through the lithium-ion battery. Even this type of battery will discharge very slowly over time when not in use.
New lithium-ion battery technology uses controllers to regular charging and discharging. This keeps batteries from becoming overheated and overcharged. Older types of batteries did not have this control and could even explode. Another key feature of this type of battery is that it recharges quickly and efficiently in comparison to many older battery designs. The first batteries did not recharge well if at all.
Lithium-ion batteries are used in many electronics applications, especially in the field of consumer electronics. They are a good energy source without being too heavy and lose their charge very slowly if not used. Some batteries suffer from what is called the “memory effect.” A battery that is charged without being completely discharged sometimes “remembers” that slightly full level as being its lower limit. This reduces the amount of energy the battery can hold. Newer lithium-ion batteries are not affected by this.
Lithium-ion batteries have only been in use since the 1970s. At that time they weren’t commercially available. Improvements were made in the 1980s, in Europe. It is generally accepted that the first efficient, small lithium-ion battery with enough energy to be used on a daily basis was developed about 20 years ago.
Category: Technology