niceSecondary Navigation About Us Work With Us Company Spotlights Subscribe Visual Capitalist Tinka Resources Company Spotlight -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Primary Navigation Home Markets This Animated Map Shows U.S. Unemployment Over Time (1990-2016) Chart: Heres How 5 Tech Giants Make Their Billions Visualizing Who Holds U.S. Debt Internationally Chart: The Downfall of Canadas Largest Alternative Mortgage Lender Crude Awakening: The Global Black Market for Oil Technology Watch Cyberwar in Real-Time on This Live Map A High Level Look at Satellites A Timeline of Elon Musks Long List of Failures The Most Valuable Tech Skills in 2017 Chart: Heres How 5 Tech Giants Make Their Billions Energy Electric Vehicles are Poised for Their Model T Moment A Timeline of Elon Musks Long List of Failures The Cathode is the Key to Advancing Lithium-Ion Technology Crude Awakening: The Global Black Market for Oil Visualizing The Worlds Deepest Oil Well Mining The Cathode is the Key to Advancing Lithium-Ion Technology The History of Tungsten, the Strongest Natural Metal on Earth Re-Awakening of the Golden Triangle Graphene: The Game-Changing Material of the Future Green Electric Vehicles are Poised for Their Model T Moment The Cathode is the Key to Advancing Lithium-Ion Technology The Doomsday Vault is a Backup Plan to Save the Worlds Most Vital Crops Visualizing Americas Changing Energy Mix (1970 2030e) The Future of Battery Technology Money Crude Awakening: The Global Black Market for Oil 12 Types of Technical Indicators Used by Stock Traders Animation: The Collapse of the Middle Class in 20 Major U.S. Cities Visualizing the Buying Power of the U.S. Dollar Over the Last Century How Much State Debt Rests on Your Shoulders? Politics U.S. Federal Government Spending is Now a Single, Unified Data Set Crude Awakening: The Global Black Market for Oil The Numbers Behind the Worlds Closest Trade Relationship France: Macron vs. Le Pen to Decide Fate of EU Which Country is Americas Biggest Enemy? Sponsored Infographics share-cathode The Cathode is the Key to Advancing Lithium-Ion Technology Jeff Desjardins on May 8, 2017 at 12:36 pm j Share s Tweet f Share a Reddit k Email o Shares 271 Cathodes: The Key to Advancing Lithium-Ion Technology Cathodes: The Key to Advancing Lithium-Ion Technology The inner-workings of most commercialized batteries are typically pretty straightforward. The lead-acid battery, which is the traditional battery used in the automotive sector, is as easy as it gets. Put two lead plates in sulphuric acid, and youre off to the races. However, lithium-ion batteries are almost infinitely more complex than their predecessors. Thats because lithium-ion refers to a mechanism the transfer of lithium-ions which can occur in a variety of cathode, anode, and electrolyte environments. As a result, theres not just one type of lithium-ion battery, but instead the name acts as an umbrella that represents thousands of different formulations that could work. The Cathodes Importance Todays infographic comes to us from Nano One, a Canadian tech company that specializes in battery materials, and it provides interesting context on lithium-ion battery advancements over the last couple of decades. Since the commercialization of the lithium-ion battery in the 1990s, there have been relatively few developments in the materials or technology used for anodes and electrolytes. For example, graphite is still the material of choice for anodes, though researchers are trying to figure out how to make the switch over to silicon. Meanwhile, the electrolyte is typically a lithium salt in an organic solvent (except in lithium-ion polymer batteries). Cathodes, on the other hand, are a very different story. Thats because they are usually made up of metal oxides or phosphates and there are many different possible combinations that can be used. Here are five examples of commercialized cathode formulations, and the metals needed for them (aside from lithium): Cathode Type Chemistry Example Metal Portions Example Use NCA LiNiCoAlO2 80% Nickel, 15% Cobalt, 5% Aluminum Tesla Model S LCO LiCoO2 100% Cobalt Apple iPhone LMO LiMn2O4 100% Manganese Nissan Leaf NMC LiNiMnCoO2 Nickel 33.3%, Manganese 33.3%, Cobalt 33.3% Tesla Powerwall LFP LiFePO4 100% Iron Starter batteries Lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, aluminum, and iron are just some of the metals used in current lithium-ion batteries out there and each battery type has considerably different properties. The type of cathode chosen can affect the energy density, power density, safety, cycle life, and cost of the overall battery, and this is why researchers are constantly experimenting with new ideas and combinations. Drilling Down For companies like Tesla, which wants the exit rate of lithium-ion cells to be faster than bullets from a machine gun, the cathode is of paramount importance. Historically, its where most advancements in lithium-ion battery technology have been made. Cathode choice is a major factor for determining battery energy density, and cathodes also typically account for 25% of lithium-ion battery costs. That means the cathode can impact both the performance and cost pieces of the $/kWh equation and building a better cathode will likely be a key driver for the success of the green revolution. Luckily, the future of cathode development has many exciting prospects. These include concepts such as building cathodes with layered-layered composite structures or orthosilicates, as well as improvements to the fundamental material processes used in cathode assembly. As these new technologies are applied, the cost of lithium-ion batteries will continue to decrease. In fact, experts are now saying that it wont be long before batteries will hit $80/kWh a cost that would make EVs undeniably cheaper than traditional gas-powered vehicles. Subscribe to Visual Capitalist Follow Visual Capitalist on Twitter Like Visual Capitalist on Facebook Follow Visual Capitalist on LinkedIn Sponsored Infographics Company Spotlight The Money Project The War on Cash Trump's Entire Financial History Video Currency and the Collapse of the Roman Empire All of the World's Money and Markets in One VisualizationBuying Power of the U.S. Dollar Over the Last Century What is Money? Buying Power of the U.S. Dollar Over the Last Century Embed This Image On Your Site (copy code below):
Related The Evolution of Battery Technology The Evolution of Battery Technology In "Batteries" The Future of Battery Technology The Future of Battery Technology In "Batteries" Explaining the Surging Demand for Lithium-Ion Batteries Explaining the Surging Demand for Lithium-Ion Batteries In "Automotive" j Share s Tweet f Share a Reddit k Email o Shares 271 Categories BatteriesEnergyGreenMiningTechnology Tagged batterycathodeenergygreenlithium-ionrenewablestesla avatar Author Jeff Desjardins Jeff Desjardins is a founder and editor of Visual Capitalist, a media website that creates and curates visual content on investing and business. Website Previous Article America's Bourbon Boom Next Article U.S. Federal Government Spending is Now a Single, Unified Data Set Back to Top About Visual Capitalist Visual Capitalist creates and curates enriched visual content focused on emerging trends in business and investing. Learn More Get daily investor content Connect With Us Copyright 2017 Visual Capitalist | All rights reserved. Contact Us Submit Media Kit Work With Us Company Spotlights Subscribe coffee_email1 :)