What are lithium battery cathode materials?

2022/12/01

The cathode material is one of the key materials that determine the performance of lithium-ion batteries, and is also the main source of lithium ions in current commercial lithium-ion batteries, and its performance and price gusset have a greater impact on lithium-ion batteries. The main cathode materials that have been successfully developed and applied are lithium cobaltate, lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganate, ternary materials such as lithium nickel cobalt manganate (NCM) and lithium nickel cobalt aluminium acid (NCA).

Lithium cobaltate is a commercially available cathode material that has been gradually modified and improved over decades of development and can be considered the most mature cathode material for lithium-ion batteries. Lithium cobaltate has the advantages of high discharge platform, high specific capacity, good cycling performance and simple synthesis process. However, the material contains more cobalt and is more costly.

Lithium cobaltate is still the choice for small lithium batteries. At present, in 3C electronic batteries, most still use lithium cobaltate instead of ternary materials with higher specific capacity, because the compacted density of lithium cobaltate materials is greater than that of ternary materials, i.e. the amount of lithium cobaltate that can be accommodated in a unit volume is greater. In smaller batteries, where bulk density is more important, lithium cobaltate has a place.

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