Advantages of Lithium ion battery & Disadvantages introduction

Before we learn about the advantages of lithium ion battery(LiFePO4 battery), here a brief introduction of LiFePO4 battery. The LiFePO4 battery is a lithium ion battery using lithium-ion phosphate (LiFePO4) as the positive electrode material and carbon as the negative electrode material. The rated voltage of a LFP cell is 3.2V, and its charging cut-off voltage is about 3.6V-3.65V. Because its performance is particularly suitable for power applications, the word “power” is added to the name, that is, LiFePO4 battery. It is also called “lithium-ion ferrous (LiFe) power battery”.

LiFePO4 battery is a kind of lithium-ion battery. Like the batteries used in our mobile phones, it is named because the positive electrode materials of LiFePO4 batteries are mainly compounds of phosphorus, acid, iron and lithium.

Advantages of Lithium ion battery（LiFePO4 battery）

Improvement of safety performance

The P-O bond in the LiFePO4 crystal is stable and difficult to decompose. Even at high temperature or overcharge, it will not collapse and generate heat like lithium cobalt oxide or form strong oxidizing substances, so it has good safety. A report pointed out that in the actual operation, a small number of samples were found to be burning in the acupuncture or short-circuit experiments, but no explosion occurred. In the overcharge experiment, high voltage charging was used that was several times higher than the self-discharge voltage, and it was found that there were still explosion phenomenon. Even so, its overcharge safety has been greatly improved compared with ordinary liquid electrolyte lithium cobalt oxide batteries.

Improvement of lifespan

The cycle life of long-life lead-acid batteries is about 300 times, and the maximum is 500 times, while the cycle life of LiFePO4 power batteries can reach more than 2,000 times, and the standard charging (5-hour rate) use can reach 2,000 times. The lead-acid battery of the same quality is “new half year, old half year, and maintenance and maintenance for half a year”, which is 1~1.5 years at most, and LiFePO4 battery is used under the same conditions, the theoretical life will reach 7~8 years. Comprehensive consideration, the performance-price ratio is theoretically more than 4 times that of lead-acid batteries. High-current discharge can quickly charge and discharge high-current 2C. Under the special charger, the battery can be fully charged within 40 minutes of 1.5C charging, and the starting current can reach 2C, but lead-acid batteries do not have this performance.

Good high temperature performance

The electric heating peak of LiFePO4 can reach 350℃-500℃, while lithium manganese and lithium cobalt only around 200℃. Wide operating temperature range (-20C–75C), with high temperature resistance, the electric heating peak of lithium iron phosphate can reach 350℃-500℃, while lithium manganese and lithium cobalt only around 200℃.

Large capacity

Batteries often work under the condition of being fully charged, and the capacity will quickly drop below the rated capacity. This phenomenon is called memory effect. Like nickel-metal hydride and nickel-cadmium batteries, there is memory, but LiFePO4 batteries do not have this phenomenon. No matter what state the battery is in, it can be used at any time without having to discharge it before charging.

Light weight

The volume of the LiFePO4 battery with the same specification and capacity is 2/3 of the volume of the lead-acid battery, and the weight is 1/3 of the lead-acid battery.

Environmental protection

LiFePO4 batteries are generally considered to be free of any heavy metals and rare metals (nickel-metal hydride batteries require rare metals), non-toxic (SGS certified), non-polluting, comply with European RoHS regulations, and are an absolute green battery certificate. Therefore, the reason why the lithium battery is favored by the industry is mainly due to environmental protection considerations. Therefore, the battery has been included in the “863” national high-tech development plan during the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” period, and has become a key project supported and encouraged by the state.

Disadvantages of Lithium ion battery

Whether a material has application development potential, in addition to focusing on advantages of lithium ion battery, it is more critical whether LiFePO4 battery has fundamental defects.

1. The tap density of the positive electrode of the LiFePO4 battery is small, the density is generally about 0.8 to 1.3, and the volume is large.

2. The electrical conductivity is poor, the diffusion rate of lithium ions is slow, and the actual specific capacity is low when charged and discharged at high times.

3. The low temperature performance of LiFePO4 battery is poor.

LiFePO4 batteries also have their shortcomings: for example, low temperature performance is poor, the tap density of positive electrode materials is low, and the volume of lithium iron phosphate batteries of equal capacity is larger than that of lithium ion batteries such as lithium cobalt oxide, so it has no advantages in micro batteries. When used in power batteries, LiFePO4 batteries, like other batteries, need to face the problem of battery consistency. If a Lithium manufacturer focus on the battery consistency, then a good battery consistency become one of the advantages of Lithium ion battery pack.

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