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A charge-discharge cycle involves draining or using your battery to where there is for all intensive purposes, no charge left, and then subsequently charging the battery with a power adapter to 100% capacity. This process of charging and discharging (charge cycling) can only be done between 300-500 times. The question that we want to address is why? Why is it that lithium batteries can only be charged less than 500 times? Why does a battery over time degrade and eventually stops working and what if any does the reduction of the battery's active material and subsequent causes of chemical changes effect battery degradation? Examine how a battery, a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy, has two internal electrodes - an anode (the negative end) and a cathode (the positive end), and that between the two electrodes runs an electrical current caused primarily from a voltage differential between the anode and cathode. We learned that batteries are made up of plates of reactive chemicals (Li-ion, Li-Po, NiMH, NiCD) separated by an electrolyte barrier (which can be either be in a liquid, solid, or gel state), and subsequently polarized so all the electrons gather on one side. We looked at how electricity is produced through a chemical change inside the battery system. We also learned that batteries require electricity to produce electricity and that the introduction of electricity involves replenishing the electrons in the lithium chemical and this chemical process is called intercalation, which, is the joining of a molecule between two other molecules. So without question charging a battery is anything but easy. One other thing is that a charge-discharge cycle involves draining or using your battery to where there is for all intensive purposes, no charge left, and then subsequently charging the battery with a power adapter to 100% capacity. This process of charging and discharging (charge cycling) can only be done between 300-500 times. The question that we want to address is why is it that lithium batteries can only be charged less than 500 times? Battery Degradation and Power Loss A battery over time degrades and eventually stops working, this is no surprise, but why this occurs is really a fascinating yet technical process. These reasons are complex issues that are way beyond user control and are wholly contained within your battery and within your device! These technical processes are a result of the reduction of the batterys active material and subsequent causes of chemical changes. The chemical changes are: a) Declining Capacity - when the amount of charge a battery can hold gradually decreases due to usage, aging, and with some chemistry, lack of maintenance. b) The Loss of Charge Acceptance of the Li-ion/polymer batteries is due to cell oxidation. Cell oxidation is when the cells of the battery lose their electrons. This is a normal process of the battery discharge process. In fact every time you use your battery a loss of charge acceptance occurs (the charge loss allows your battery to power your device by delivering electrical current to your device). Capacity loss is permanent. Li-ion/polymer batteries cannot be restored with cycling or any other external means. The capacity loss is permanent because the metals used in the cells run for a specific time only and are being consumed during their service life. c) Internal Resistance, known as Impedance, determines the performance and runtime of a battery. It is a measure of opposition to a sinusoidal electric current. A high internal resistance curtails the flow of energy from the battery to a device. The aging of the battery cells contributes, primarily, to the increase in resistance, not usage. The internal resistance of the Li-ion batteries cannot be improved with cycling (recharging). Cell oxidation, which causes high resistance, is non-reversible and is the ultimate cause of battery failure (energy may still be present in the battery, but it can no longer be delivered due to poor conductivity). d) All batteries have an inherent Elevated Self-Discharge. The self-discharge on nickel-based batteries is 10 to 15 percent of its capacity in the first 24 hours after charge, followed by 10 to 15
percent every month thereafter. Li-ion batteries self-discharge about five percent in the first 24 hours and one to two percent thereafter in the following months of use. At higher temperatures, the self-discharge on all battery chemistry increases. The self-discharge of a battery increases with age and usage. Once a battery exhibits high self-discharge, little can be done to reverse the effect. e) Premature Voltage Cut-Off - some devices like PDAs do not fully utilize the low-end voltage spectrum of a battery. The PDA device itself, for example cuts off before the designated end-of-discharge voltage is reached and battery power remains unused. For example, a PDA that is powered with a single-cell Li-ion battery and is designed to cut-off at 3.7V may actually cut-off at 3.3V. Obviously the full potential of the battery and the device is lost (not utilized). Now that we have looked at how the chemical changes in a battery effect battery degradation and power loss and contribute to the eventual total loss of the battery, now lets see why battery degradation occurs in the first place. Due to battery degradation, batteries can never just keep going and going and going. The fact is, is that all batteries degrade and lose power because there is a reduction in the batterys active material. We know that a battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. In order to convert chemical energy into electrical energy there is a chain of events that have to occur prior to the creation of electrical energy. The key to the creation of electricity is that in batteries electrical energy is produced from two chemicals in a solution. After discharging you recharge the battery via a charger. The charge process involves intercalation: the joining of a molecule (or molecule group) between two other molecules (or groups). Intercalation is the process of ions being pushed by electrical current into solid lithium compounds. Lithium is one of the chemical components used to create electrical energy in batteries. Lithium compounds have minuscule spaces between the crystallized planes for small ions to insert themselves from a force of current. Ionizing lithium loads the crystal planes to the point where they are forced into a current flow. Intercalation replenishes, in effect, lithium but the net result of ionization is the ultimate depletion of the lithium reactive property. You could say if you use it you will lose it! Why then is lithium used as the chemical to create electricity in batteries? There are a number of good reasons - lets look at a few! General Characteristics of Lithium Name: lithium Symbol: Li Atomic number: 3 Atomic weight: [6.941 (2)] g m r CAS Registry ID: 7439-93-2 Group number: 1 Group name: Alkali metal Period number: 2 Block: s-block Standard state: solid at 298 K Color: silvery white/grey Classification: Metallic
Lithium is one of the metals in the alkali group (the other metals include Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium, and Francium). Lithium is a highly reactive metal. Lithium has only one electron in its outer shell (two electrons in its inner shell), which makes it chemically ready to lose that one electron in ionic bonding with other elements. Lithium is used as a battery anode material (due to its high electrochemical potential). Electrochemical potential is the sum of the chemical potential and the electrical potential. The higher the electrochemical potential the better the electrical current yields. In some lithium-based cells the electrochemical potential can be five times greater than an equivalent-sized lead-acid cell and three times greater than alkaline batteries. One other core advantage that lithium has is that it is soft and bendable which
allows for tight configurations in small cell designs (PDAs. Laptops, Cameras etc). Lithium, even with all of its good chemical properties will eventually, however, react to the point where the electrochemical potential will yield a charge that is simply not enough to create current to pass to power a device.
longer runtime between battery charges. Internal Resistance, known as Impedance, determines the performance and runtime of a battery. It is a measure of opposition to a sinusoidal electric current. A high internal resistance curtails the flow of energy from the battery to a device. Internal resistance is caused primarily from the opposition of current by the electrolyte that resides between a batterys two electrodes. Now battery cell grading is a process of categorizing cells into grades (Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C). Every grade is important to the manufacturer, meaning there is not one grade that is better than another. In fact every manufacturer wants to make and sell each cell grade because of the unique differences of each grade and because each cell grade has a specific market and device segment. As mentioned above cells are always categorized to be graded A, B and C but there is not a single manufacturing standard for categorizing cells; each manufacturing factory may have their own standard so thus cell grade categorization is not necessarily scientific. For example, Li-ion cell 053450, some companies may categorize the cell as follows: Grade A Grade B Grade C Capacity above 1000mAh, Internal Resistance below 60m Capacity 900 to 1000mAh, Internal Resistance 60m to 80m Capacity below 900mAh, Internal Resistance above 80m
But for some companies with better production lines and capability, they may have higher capacity cells so they may categorize cell 053450 as follows: Grade A Grade B Grade C Capacity above 1100mAh, Internal Resistance below 60m Capacity 1000 to 1100mAh, Internal Resistance 60m to 80m Capacity below 1000mAh, internal resistance above 80m
One generally accepted conclusion can be drawn from these two examples and that is grade A cells have the longest runtime and cycle life, grade B has the second longest runtime and cycle life and grade C has the third longest runtime and cycle life.