An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit. Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials depending on the type of battery.
Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic table: carbon is above it; and germanium, tin, lead, and flerovium are below it. It is relatively unreactive.
The mineral pyrite ( PY-ryte), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.
Lepidolite is a lilac-gray or rose-colored member of the mica group of minerals with chemical formula K(Li,Al)3(Al,Si,Rb)4O10(F,OH)2. It is the most abundant lithium-bearing mineral and is a secondary source of this metal. It is the major source of the alkali metal rubidium.
A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. In comparison with other rechargeable batteries, Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, higher energy density, higher energy efficiency, a longer cycle life, and a longer calendar life. Also noteworthy is a dramatic improvement in lithium-ion battery properties after their market introduction in 1991: within the next 30 years, their volumetric energy density increased threefold while their cost dropped tenfold.
Lithium nitride is a compound with the formula Li3N. It is the only stable alkali metal nitride. The solid has a reddish-pink color and high melting point.
Silicon disulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula SiS2. Like silicon dioxide, this material is polymeric, but it adopts a 1-dimensional structure quite different from the usual forms of SiO2.
Michael Stanley Whittingham is a British-American chemist. He is a professor of chemistry and director of both the Institute for Materials Research and the Materials Science and Engineering program at Binghamton University, State University of New York. He also serves as director of the Northeastern Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES) of the U.S. Department of Energy at Binghamton. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 alongside Akira Yoshino and John B. Goodenough.
Molybdenum dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula MoO2. It is a violet-colored solid and is a metallic conductor. The mineralogical form of this compound is called tugarinovite, and is only very rarely found.
A nanowire battery uses nanowires to increase the surface area of one or both of its electrodes, which improves the capacity of the battery. Some designs, variations of the lithium-ion battery have been announced, although none are commercially available. All of the concepts replace the traditional graphite anode and could improve battery performance. Each type of nanowire battery has specific advantages and disadvantages, but a challenge common to all of them is their fragility.
LISICON is an acronym for LIthiumSuper Ionic CONductor, which refers to a family of solids with the chemical formula Li2+2xZn1−xGeO4.
Binary compounds of silicon are binary chemical compounds containing silicon and one other chemical element. Technically the term silicide is reserved for any compounds containing silicon bonded to a more electropositive element. Binary silicon compounds can be grouped into several classes. Saltlike silicides are formed with the electropositive s-block metals. Covalent silicides and silicon compounds occur with hydrogen and the elements in groups 10 to 17.
Research in lithium-ion batteries has produced many proposed refinements of lithium-ion batteries. Areas of research interest have focused on improving energy density, safety, rate capability, cycle durability, flexibility, and cost.
NASICON is an acronym for sodium (Na) Super Ionic CONductor, which usually refers to a family of solids with the chemical formula Na1+xZr2SixP3−xO12, 0 < x < 3. In a broader sense, it is also used for similar compounds where Na, Zr and/or Si are replaced by isovalent elements. NASICON compounds have high ionic conductivities, on the order of 10−3 S/cm, which rival those of liquid electrolytes. They are caused by hopping of Na ions among interstitial sites of the NASICON crystal lattice.
Lithium–silicon battery is a name used for a subclass of lithium-ion battery technology that employs a silicon-based anode and lithium ions as the charge carriers. Silicon based materials generally have a much larger specific capacity, for example 3600 mAh/g for pristine silicon, relative to graphite, which is limited to a maximum theoretical capacity of 372 mAh/g for the fully lithiated state LiC6. Silicon's large volume change (approximately 400% based on crystallographic densities) when lithium is inserted is one of the main obstacles along with high reactivity in the charged state to commercializing this type of anode. Commercial battery anodes may have small amounts of silicon, boosting their performance slightly. The amounts are closely held trade secrets, limited as of 2018 to at most 10% of the anode. Lithium-silicon batteries also include cell configurations where Si is in compounds that may at low voltage store lithium by a displacement reaction, including silicon oxycarbide, silicon monoxide or silicon nitride.
The phosphidosilicates or phosphosilicides are inorganic compounds containing silicon bonded to phosphorus and one or more other kinds of elements. In the phosphosilicates each silicon atom is surrounded by four phosphorus atoms in a tetrahedron. The triphosphosilicates have a SiP3 unit, that can be a planar triangle like carbonate CO3. The phosphorus atoms can be shared to form different patterns e.g. [Si2P6]10− which forms pairs, and [Si3P7]3− which contains two-dimensional double layer sheets. [SiP4]8− with isolated tetrahedra, and [SiP2]2− with a three dimensional network with shared tetrahedron corners. SiP clusters can be joined, not only by sharing a P atom, but also by way of a P-P bond. This does not happen with nitridosilicates or plain silicates.
Polymer derived ceramics (PDCs) are ceramic materials formed by the pyrolysis of preceramic polymers, usually under inert atmosphere.
Anthony Roy West FRSE, FRSC, FInstP, FIMMM is a British chemist and materials scientist, and Professor of Electroceramics and Solid State Chemistry at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
The nitridosilicates are chemical compounds that have anions with nitrogen bound to silicon. Counter cations that balance the electric charge are mostly electropositive metals from the alkali metals, alkaline earths or rare earth elements. Silicon and nitrogen have similar electronegativities, so the bond between them is covalent. Nitrogen atoms are arranged around a silicon atom in a tetrahedral arrangement.
Lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide (LLZO, Li7La3Zr2O12) or lithium lanthanum zirconate is a lithium-stuffed garnet material that is under investigation for its use in solid-state electrolytes in lithium-based battery technologies. LLZO has a high ionic conductivity and thermal and chemical stability against reactions with prospective electrode materials, mainly lithium metal, giving it an advantage for use as an electrolyte in solid-state batteries. LLZO exhibits favorable characteristics, including the accessibility of starting materials, cost-effectiveness, and straightforward preparation and densification processes. These attributes position this zirconium-containing lithium garnet as a promising solid electrolyte for all-solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.
