Lithium-ion batteries are becoming the preferred type of battery to use in many applications. However, there are concerns with the safety of some of the materials used in these batteries, particularly regarding flammability, as well as the number of times they can be recharged.
Studies have shown that coating the materials used as cathodes in lithium-ion batteries with thin films of suspensions available from MOST can increase the cycle life of these materials with only a limited loss of the energy available from the battery. These figures show the discharge profiles for the first and fiftieth cycles of a coated and uncoated lithium manganese oxide spinel cathode material cycled at 1C while held at 55°C.
Discharge profiles of the 1st and 50th cycles of coated and uncoated spinel batteries cycled at 1C while held at 55oC.
These coatings are also expected to limit the flammability of these cathode materials. More detailed information about these studies can be found in the two battery papers in our provided references.
Kim, J.S., Johnson, C.S., Vaughey, J.T., Hackney, S.A., Walz, K.A., Zeltner, W.A., Anderson, M.A. and Thackeray, M.M. (2004) The electrochemical stability of spinel electrodes coated with ZrO2, Al2O3, and SiO2 from colloidal suspensions, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 151, A1755-A1761.
Walz, K.A., Johnson, C.S., Genthe, J., Stoiber, L.C., Zeltner, W.A., Anderson, M.A. and Thackeray, M.M. (2010) Elevated temperature cycling stability and electrochemical impedance of LiMn2O4 cathodes with nanoporous ZrO2 and TiO2 coatings, J. Power Sources, 195, 4943-4951.