Since scientists demonstrated the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery in 1976, the technology has proven its world-changing potential in the electronics industry. But even as applications in electric vehicles and stationary storage record massive growth, the technology has issues to overcome and scientists the world over are hard at work on integrating new materials and pushing more performance out of batteries still based on the concepts illustrated by scientists almost half a century ago.
And looking back over these developments can be valuable in informing the future direction of research. Arumugam Manthiram has been a professor at the University of Texas at Austin for 20 years, and has also worked on lithium-ion technology alongside Nobel Prize-winning scientist John Goodenough. In a review paper published in Nature Communications, Manthiram delves into the history of lithium-ion technology and examines the issues influencing current research into new battery concepts.
“Cost and sustainability are becoming critical as we move forward with large-scale deployment of lithium-ion batteries,” says Manthiram. “Also, there is an appetite to increase the energy density beyond the current level to keep up with the advances in portable electronic devices and enhance the driving range of electric vehicles.”
Big three
The paper outlines three major discoveries that brought about the lithium-ion batteries we see on the market today.
The first demonstration of a rechargeable battery with a lithium-metal anode and titanium sulfide cathode by M. Stanley Whittingham at Exxon in the 1970s provided proof of concept for recent advances in the understanding of intercalation chemistry. This battery was hampered by low voltage and energy density, as well as dendrite growth on the lithium-metal anode – a problem scientists today are still working to solve.
Next Manthiram focuses on work by John Goodenough’s group in the 1980s, which was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. This concerns the design of oxide cathodes, which allowed for increased voltage in the battery. Goodenough’s group also divided oxide cathodes into three classes (layered, spinel and polyanion), which remain the only practical cathode types to this day, and serve as the basis for future developments.
Finally, further work by Goodenough’s group in the 1980s, led by visiting researcher Koichi Mizushima, provided the first demonstration of a lithium battery with a carbon anode and lithium cobalt oxide cathode. It represented the first time the technology overcame safety and energy density issues, and was presented as something ready for commercialization.
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