Table Of ContentSlobodan Petrovic
Battery Technology
Crash Course
A Concise Introduction
Battery Technology Crash Course
Slobodan Petrovic
Battery Technology Crash
Course
A Concise Introduction
SlobodanPetrovic
ElectricalEngineeringandRenewableEnergy
OregonInstituteofTechnology
HappyValley,OR,USA
ISBN978-3-030-57268-6 ISBN978-3-030-57269-3 (eBook)
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Preface
Batterieslooksimpleontheoutside.Mostpeoplelookatapackagedbatteryandsee
aclosedsystemthatdeliversenergyondemand.Thesystemdoesnotcommunicate
withitsenvironmentexceptelectrically.Itdeliverselectricalenergyondemand,and
forrechargeablebatteries,itacceptselectricalenergyduringcharging.Noteveryone
asks themselves what is inside a battery or how a battery works. Yet there is a
fascinating system inside a battery—workings of a complex organization with
multifunctionalcomponentsandreactionswiththeoccasionalmysteriousoutcomes.
Forresearchers, those who develop andtest batteries,they representachallenge: a
constant quest for improvement, for better material, for a favorable sequence of
eventsduringmanufacturing,orforanewstructurethatmightprovetoadvanceone
smallpartoftheoverallperformance.Bystretchingthelimitsofchemistry,physics,
material science, and most importantly, the overlapping boundaries between these
fields,batterieshavebeenchangingforover200years,beginningwiththeinvention
ofthevoltaicpile,whichwassimplyaseriesofcopperandzincdisksseparatedby
brine.
Fortheaverageperson,evenanengineer,abatteryisausefulsourceofelectricity
that can be used to power many types of devices. In many situations, batteries are
designedintoasystemwithonlyminimalregardtotheirpropertiesortheevaluation
oftheircompatibilitywiththedevicethebatteriesarepowering.Thosewhodecide
to venture a little deeper may study the main battery properties and consider more
complex relationships. Still, the inner workings of a battery usually remain enig-
matic for many. It has often been suspected that the basic challenge for many
students arises from the fact that batteries are electrochemical devices and that the
processes in batteries must be ultimately understood in terms of the interface
between the electrical phenomena and chemical reactions. This has proven to be
difficultnotonlyforstudentsofengineeringbutalsoforanyoneinthetechnicalor
business community who wishes to gain an understanding of battery principles,
performance, and use. While there are many extraordinary texts on batteries avail-
able, most of them are too long and too technically detailed for a reader generally
inexperienced in the field. These fine books usually require a long course of study
beforeasatisfactorylevelofunderstandingisgained.Asaresult,itappearedthata
fundamental text was needed, which enables a rapid course of learning toward
understandingthescientificandengineeringprinciplesinvolvedinmodernbatteries.
v
vi Preface
Ihave discoveredovermany years ofteachingthat engineering students master
thefieldofbatteries betterwhentakingonlyonecourse,if they arepresentedwith
thefundamentalconceptsfirstandthengivenanopportunitytogainanunderstand-
ing of the electrochemical processes inside the batteries in conceptual principles
instead of specific results. Adding additional layers of knowledge to basic under-
standing involves applying multi-level reasoning about the effects of interior and
exterior parameters on battery reactions. The goal in the education of engineering
students is to develop an understanding of trends in battery behavior under the
influence of overlapping factors. This is the main motivation behind this text-
book—a gradual andlayered introductioninto thedifficult scienceandtechnology
of batteries, followed by a chronological look at different battery types with the
intention of establishing the reader’s ability to confidently select an appropriate
battery for an application and conditions of use. Ultimately, the desire to facilitate
thelearningoffundamentalprinciplesofbatteriesledtothiscrashcoursesuitablefor
allengineers,analysts,economists,investmentbankers,andotherbusyprofessionals
whowishtorapidlygainanecessaryunderstandingofbatteries.
HappyValley,OR SlobodanPetrovic
Acknowledgment
MythankstoLauraPolkforherassistancewithgettingthisbooktothepublisheron
time.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 GalvanicCells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 TypesofBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 EnergyConversioninBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 BatteryComponents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 PrincipleofOperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.6 ElectrodeSelection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.7 CalculatingBatteryCellVoltage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8 BatteryCellVoltageandNernstEquation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.9 ElectrolyteforBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.10 Gibbs-FreeEnergyandBatteryVoltage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.11 TheoreticalBatteryCapacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.12 PracticalEnergyofaBattery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.13 SpecificEnergyandPower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.14 BatteryTesting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 OperationalFactorsofBatterySystems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 PerformanceParameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 BatteryVoltage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 SecondaryBatterySystems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4 Battery-LimitingFactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5 BatteryCurrent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.6 ModesofDischarge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.7 DischargeCurrentEffectonVoltage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.8 DischargeCurrentEffectonCapacity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 33
2.9 TheEffectofTemperatureonBatteryPerformance. . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.10 Self-Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.11 CalendarandCycleLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.12 InternalResistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.13 Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.14 BatterySelection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
iixx
x Contents
3 Lead–AcidBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1 OverviewandCharacteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 47
3.2 PrincipleofOperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3 TypesofLead–AcidBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.4 CellComponentsandFabrication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.5 FailureModes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.6 ChargeProcess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.7 DischargeProcess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.8 Electrolyte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.9 StateofCharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.10 Capacity. . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . 65
3.11 CycleLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.12 Self-Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4 Nickel–CadmiumBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.1 OverviewandCharacteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 73
4.2 PrincipleofOperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.3 ReactionsDuringOvercharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.4 VoltageDuringChargeandDischarge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.5 Charge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.6 Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.7 EffectofTemperatureonDischarge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.8 PolarityReversal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.9 CycleLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.10 Self-Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.11 MemoryEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.12 CellComponentsandFailureModes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5 Nickel–MetalHydrideBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.2 PrincipleofOperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.3 NegativeElectrode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.4 Charge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6 LithiumBatteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.2 EarlyLithiumBatteries:LiMetal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.3 CurrentLithiumBatteries(Li–Ion). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.4 FutureLithiumSystem(Li–AirandLi–S). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.5 CellComponentsandFabrication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.6 Charging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Contents xi
6.7 Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.8 CycleLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.9 Self-Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.10 OperationalChallenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115