Chemistry

I was beaming with delight when I read that John Goodenough, Stanley Wittingham and Akira Yoshino received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the “development of lithium-ion batteries.”

Wittingham’s initial work on batteries dates back to the 1970s while at Exxon. Goodenough’s seminal work on LCO cathodes at Oxford was published in 1980. Yoshino’s contributions on the graphite anode came in 1980s at Asahi Kasei in Japan. Sony converted their ideas into the first commercial lithium-ion battery product in 1991.

So it is about time that these scientists are recognized for their contributions and for initiating a revolution in energy storage. The award shines the light on the contributions of thousands of scientists and engineers who have diligently worked in the past decades to make lithium-ion batteries ubiquitous in our lives. Just imagine your modern digital life, your iPhone, or your Tesla vehicle, without a lithium-ion battery. You simply can’t!

With today’s Nobel award, lithium-ion batteries join the ranks of great inventions such as the transistor or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The invention of the silicon transistor in 1951 became the catalyst that led to modern-day Silicon Valley. Kari Mullis’ discovery of PCR technique in 1983 set in motion a vast industry in biochemistry and drug discovery.

Nearly 30 years have passed since Sony manufactured the first lithium-ion battery. Over these three decades, the lithium-ion battery went from powering early models of consumer camcorders to transforming transportation. Nonetheless, the industry remains in its early days with many more challenges to overcome and discoveries to be made. 

As the adoption of electric vehicles accelerates in the coming years, the lithium-ion battery takes a fundamental role in our economy no less than that assumed by the combustion engine in the early part of the 20th century. Challenges in battery performance, safety, manufacturing, cost, integration with complex electronic systems, all must be resolved….challenges also mean opportunities for innovation, and opportunities for scientists and engineers to make lasting contributions.

In an era where the meaning of “tech,” especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area, has become synonymous with the creation of new gadgets or new business models, we should not lose sight that science remains the engine that powers technology.

Ted Miller, senior manager of energy storage at Ford Motor Co., recently stated:  “We don’t see another way to get there without solid-state technology.” The statement is in regard to more powerful batteries for electric vehicles. Mr. Miller goes on clarifying: “What I can’t predict right now is who is going to commercialize it.”

So what is a solid state battery and why is it so difficult to commercialize? 

First, let’s clarify some misconceptions. 

A polymer battery, known as a LiPo, is a lithium-ion battery. 

A cylindrical battery, like an 18650 cell (used in the early Tesla models) is also a lithium-ion battery.

A prismatic battery is too a lithium-ion battery with a hard shell.

And so is a solid-state battery. It involves newer manufacturing processes, but it is a lithium-ion battery. 

All of these variances of lithium-ion batteries have one physical principle in common: the lithium ions contribute to storing the electrical energy.

Simplistically, a lithium-ion battery operates with lithium ions shuffling back and forth between two electrical layers: an anode and a cathode. When the ions are at the cathode, the battery is discharged. When they move to the anode, then the battery is charged. The cathode and anode are called electrodes.

The motion of the ions between these two electrodes is facilitated by an intermediate medium called electrolyte. It is a solution that is electrically conductive: it permits ions to travel through it with little impediment. One key property is called conductivity: it is a scientific measure of the ease at which ions can travel through the electrolyte. High conductivity means the ions can travel easily and quickly. Low means the opposite.

In a lithium-ion battery, the two electrodes are immersed in an electrolyte solution. Today’s batteries use a liquid or gel-like electrolyte. Battery manufacturers go to great lengths to formulate unique electrolytes for their batteries. The formulations do have an impact on many of the battery’s specifications, in particular cycle life (the number of times a battery can be charged and discharged). 

In a solid-state battery, the liquid or gel electrolyte disappears. It is instead replaced by a “solid-state” layer sandwiched between the two electrodes. “Solid-state” means this layer is not a liquid, but a physical solid. The material can consist of a ceramic, glass, or even a plastic-like polymer, or some type of mixture of all three.

So why use a solid electrolyte? There are two major reasons. First, a battery with solid electrolyte occupies a lot less space than one with liquid electrolyte. That means one can pack more energy in the same volume. Consequently, energy density — an important metric of batteries — goes up.

The second reason is safety. Liquid or gel electrolytes are more prone to catching fire than a solid electrolyte.

Traditionally, the primary challenge with solid electrolytes is poor conductivity especially at room temperature (25 °C or 77 °F). A liquid or gel electrolyte has a conductivity that is about 1,000 times better than that of solid electrolyte. In other words, solid electrolytes exhibit a far higher resistance to the flow of lithium ions. This results in several performance challenges, starting with poorer cycle life and inability to charge at fast rates. 

Some companies proposed operating their solid-state batteries at elevated temperatures (> 80 °C) to improve conductivity. But this is not practical under most use scenarios.

Therefore the quest for solid electrolyte materials continues to be a much active field of exploration and discovery. There is confidence in the industry better materials will be discovered, yet, we really can’t predict when a breakthrough will be widely adopted. 

Another challenging aspect is the surface stability and manufacturability of solid electrolytes.  Unlike liquid solutions, glass and ceramic electrolytes are not deformable. They must be assembled with the two electrodes using high external pressure, equivalent to about 1,000 atmospheres. It becomes questionable whether existing battery manufacturing factories can be retooled for this purpose. If not, the economics of solid-state batteries will undoubtedly suffer as is the present case.

In a nutshell, there is much promise in breakthrough material innovations to make solid-state batteries a reality. Yet, many challenges remain ahead. I personally do not expect to see solid-state batteries in commercial scale for several years to come. We will continue to see evolutionary progress with traditional lithium-ion batteries especially as prices continue to decline.

But in all cases, solid-state batteries are subject to the same physical principles that govern traditional lithium-ion batteries. Consequently, many of the battery management solutions developed for traditional lithium-ion batteries will evolve and continue to apply. And that is good news.

School started this week for most of us so it is time to resume the posts. Today’s post continues with insight into the subtleties of the lithium-ion battery. It is surprising how a simple device, with only two contacts, can be so intriguing and complex.

As summer nears to an end, several smartphone makers ready their newest and greatest devices for launch. Samsung announces their Note 8 on 23 August. LG is announcing their flagship V30 a week later. And we are not forgetting Apple as they ready their newest iPhones in September.

All of these new devices will come with amazingly beautiful and large displays, top-of-the-line processors and of course, batteries to power them. At an expected price point in excess of $700, consumers are keeping their smartphones for two or even three years. So will their batteries last that long?

We will examine here one of the parameters that impact the longevity of the battery…and give you some tidbits on what you can do to keep your battery fresh for longer than average. Today’s post is on voltage. Voltage is the alt-nature to state-of-charge (SOC). This is very much the principle of operation of the fuel gauge — how you get to read at the top of your screen the percentage of remaining battery life.

When I say voltage, I mean the maximum voltage that the battery will see. It also determines the maximum available capacity in mAh. Look at the label of a battery and you will observe a maximum voltage during charge and maximum capacity for that battery. Most state-of-the-art batteries operate at a maximum voltage around 4.35 V or 4.4 V. This is also the voltage that corresponds to a 100% battery reading.

If you choose to charge your smartphone to a lesser percentage, say to only 90%, then the battery voltage stops at a lower value. For a battery that is rated 4.35 V, 100% corresponds to 4.35 V. At 95%, the voltage is 4.30 V. And at 90%, the voltage is 4.25 V. These are small differences in voltage values, but significant differences in capacity.

Let’s take a particular example with a battery having a maximum capacity of 3,100 mAh at 4.35 V. Therefore, at 4.25 V, the maximum available capacity becomes a little over 2,800 mAh.

You are now wondering: why would anyone want to do that?

The answer is: Battery longevity. If you don’t have the best battery, or your smartphone manufacturer is not putting the best battery management intelligence on your device, then you ought to be very concerned whether your battery will last you more than one year. Battery issues after 6 months or one year are a significant cause for warranty returns.

Let’s back it up with some measured data.

The following chart shows the maximum available capacity for a battery rated at 3,100 mAh at 4.35 V. At this voltage, this battery will only last about 400 cycles, or about a year. You will complain about the loss of use much before that.  The brown line shows that your battery has lost 250 mAh of capacity after 6 months….that’s about 2 hours of use time. Ouch!

Now, let’s look at the case where the smartphone is charged to only 95%. That is a maximum available capacity of 3,000 mAh instead of 3,100 mAh. Now follow the dark green curve in the chart. It fades at a much slower rate than the brown line. In fact, it crosses over the brown line at about 300 cycles, or about 10 months. In other words, after 10 months, it offers more capacity. This illustrates the tradeoff between voltage and longevity.

A smartphone maker who has implemented advanced intelligence on their battery (like Qnovo’s) will not suffer from this ailment. But if you suspect that your device does not have such intelligence, then you will do yourself a big favor by charging your battery to a maximum of 95% or even lower if you can.

Qualcomm announced this week their 4th generation Quick Charge™ technology to be available in their upcoming Snapdragon 835 chipset. Quick Charge™ 4 continues to build on making fast charging an integral part of modern smartphones and consumer devices. In this latest generation, Qualcomm adds a number of key features, in particular, higher efficiency in delivering the power from the wall socket to the device, more power available for charging faster, and better thermal management. I applaud the continued evolution of Qualcomm’s QC technology.

As fast charging becomes an entrenched technology in the mobile landscape, the emphasis on battery safety itself during fast charging begins to take priority. As I highlighted in this earlier post, fast charging done improperly causes irreparable damage to the battery causing a loss of capacity (mAh) or worse yet, battery safety problems. Combining fast charging with high-energy density cells, especially the new generation that is operating at 4.4V, is a recipe for potential disasters. This post is about what can go wrong when we mix fast charging with high-energy density batteries, but neglect to implement the necessary charging intelligence and the necessary controls around the battery.

First, let me clarify a few things.

• Fast charging includes the realm of charging the battery at rates near or above 1C . At 1C, the battery charges to half-full from empty (0 to 50%) in 30 minutes. QC 4.0 is capable to going at twice that rate, or 2C. That is very fast.
• High-energy density batteries are those with energy densities in excess of 600 Wh/l, with the most recent ones at or near 700 Wh/l. The newest generation of these batteries are almost universally operating at 4.4V. This earlier post explains the risks and perils of operating at this voltage.
• The last point I want to clarify is that the common charging approaches, namely CCCV and step charging do NOT provide any intelligence or controls around charging. They are open-loop methods with no mechanism to gauge the state or health of the battery in order to make the proper adjustments and avoid the risks that I will highlight below.

The mix of fast charging and high-energy batteries makes a very volatile situation. This reminds me of fancy car commercials with the fine print warning at the bottom of the screen: “Professional drivers on a closed course. Do not attempt.” Fast charging high-energy batteries is rapidly approaching this realm of cautionary warnings. The consequences of neglecting such advice can be dire especially as smartphone fires are fresh in our collective memories.

So what can go wrong?

To begin with, lithium metal plating is a huge risk when one attempts to fast charge a 4.4V cell. We see lithium plating on most if not all cells from reputable battery suppliers when charged using CCCV or step charging. This is a serious problem if not mitigated with the proper battery intelligence. Left unchecked, lithium metal plating can lead to safety hazards and potential fires. What makes lithium metal plating even more hazardous is that it is not easy to detect its presence inside your smartphone. By the time it develops into a potential electrical short inside the battery, it is often too late. Therefore it is imperative that the intelligence in the battery management seeks to avoid its forming from the very beginning of the battery’s life in your smartphone.

A second serious hazard is excess swelling of the battery. Yes, the battery will physically grow thicker as it is repeatedly charged. It is nearly impossible to measure the thickness of the battery once it is embedded inside your smartphone. Clever estimates of the thickness without physically touching the battery belong to the category of advanced intelligent algorithms that are becoming increasingly necessary. You might say: so what, let the battery swell! Excessive swelling will most certainly break your display screen.

A third hazard relates to the battery’s behavior at high temperature. The electronics inside your device consume power and cause the smartphone to get hot.  Those of you who have fast charging on your devices will attest to this fact. One misconception is that the battery itself heats up because of fast charging. That is not correct. The battery gets hot because of the heat generated by the electronics inside the smartphone. These temperatures can rise inside the smartphone to 40 °C, and in some many cases approaching 45 °C. These elevated temperatures accelerate the degradation of materials inside the battery especially at the elevated voltages. This leads to a rapid loss of charge capacity (your mAh drop very quickly) accompanied with excessive swelling of the battery. If you are an Uber driver with your smartphone fast charging on your dashboard on a hot summer day, this does not bode well for you.

These are only three examples of potential battery safety hazards associated with fast charging high-energy density cells using traditional charging methods…each one of them can lead to serious battery safety problems. That’s a good time to heed the warning in the car commercials. If you are not a professional, please do not attempt.