Battery Know-what/why (Article 1)

Humanity has come to depend on batteries. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say batteries are at the core of human existence - think of your mobile phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches, electric vehicles, home back-up battery system or the battery containers on the solar or wind farm near your home. This dependency is only poised to increase! In this ‘Battery Know-what/why’ series, we explore the intricacies of our beloved batteries without being bogged down with technical jargon. This is the first of a few short weekly articles. Let us jump right into it!

#1 Battery cell: the fundamental component of a battery is a cell. A battery cell is composed of a positive component (called a cathode) and a negative component (called an anode). A cell stores and releases energy via electrochemical reactions.

#2 Cell format: this refers to the geometric shape of the cell. The main formats include cylindrical, pouch and prismatic.

#3 Lithium-ion battery family: these are battery cells that have one main factor in common - they utilize lithium as the main metal in the positive component (cathode). The cathode is the energy holding structure of the cell.

#4 Battery chemistry: this refers to the composite (combination) of metals and non-metals composing the positive electrode (cathode) of the cell. Since all lithium-ion cell types contain lithium, the specific cell type is determined by the rest of the materials forming the cathode. The other common cathode materials include nickel, cobalt oxide, manganese, iron, phosphate and aluminum oxide.

#5 Chemistry nomenclature: cell chemistry name is typically a combination of the metals and non-metals in the positive component (cathode).

#6 Battery architecture: Several cells are connected to form a battery module then several modules form a battery pack/string. The number of cells required depends on cumulative energy consumption as well as the rate at which the energy is consumed. For instance: a mobile phone utilizes one battery cell, a laptop has a small battery module while an electric vehicle or a back-up battery system contains several battery packs/strings.

References

1. https://www.mdpi.com/2313-0105/6/3/47

2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780323911344000200