As the energy density of lithium-ion batteries continues to increase, especially high-energy lithium-ion batteries using silicon-containing negative electrodes, the application of lithium replenishment technology is particularly urgent due to low first efficiency. At present, the most common lithium replenishment process is the negative electrode lithium replenishment method, which uses... Keywords: lithium process, silicon anode, lithium battery.

With the continuous improvement of the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, especially high-energy lithium-ion batteries using silicon-containing anodes, the application of lithium replenishment technology is particularly urgent due to low first efficiency. At present, the most common lithium replenishment process is the negative electrode lithium replenishment method, which uses lithium powder, lithium foil and other processes to supplement the irreversible capacity loss of the negative electrode during the first charging process. In addition, another lithium replenishment method being studied is the positive electrode lithium replenishment process, both Add a small amount of high-capacity lithium-containing oxide, such as Li5FeO4 material, to the positive electrode, and use the positive electrode to store additional Li to supplement the Li loss during the first discharge process. These two lithium supplementation methods have their own advantages. Today we will discuss and compare the two lithium supplementation methods.

Expansion: The first effect problem of silicon anode

When pure Si is completely lithium-embedded, its specific capacity can reach 4200mAh/g (Li4.4Si), but it is also accompanied by a volume expansion of up to 300%, which will cause particle fragmentation and differentiation of pure silicon materials during the lithium-embedded process. , the negative electrode material falls off, resulting in serious capacity decline during material circulation. In order to overcome the problem of silicon anode materials, people have tried to make pure silicon into nanoparticles to suppress the expansion of Si particles. However, in fact, this strategy is not successful. Related calculations show that only when the particle size of pure Si particles is smaller than the unit cell It is only possible to completely suppress the volume expansion of Si particles when the size is larger, which is obviously impossible to achieve. Therefore, nanoparticles only reduce the volume expansion of Si anode particles. At the same time, the larger specific surface area of nanoparticles will also cause negative electrode and electrolysis Side reactions between liquids increased significantly. In addition, another strategy is to make the Si material into a raisin bread structure, that is, to disperse the nano-Si particles in the graphite ocean, and use the graphite to absorb the volume expansion of the Si particles during the charge and discharge process, but this method is not perfect. , First of all, the specific capacity of the material is very low. Due to the high graphite content, the specific capacity of most such silicon carbon anodes is only 400-500mAh/g. At the same time, the cycle life of this type of silicon carbon material has not been much improved. improve.

Due to the above-mentioned problems in pure Si materials, people began to try to use another silicon oxide-SiOX as the negative electrode material. The bond energy of the Si-O bond is twice that of the Si-Si bond. At the same time, during the process of lithium insertion In the process, Li will react with the O element in the material to generate LiXO. These Li oxides then lose their activity and become a buffer layer inside the silicon oxide particles, which can inhibit the material during the charge and discharge process. Volume expansion improves the material's cycle performance. Since the metallic lithium oxide LiXO is generated during the first lithium insertion process in SiOx, the first Coulombic efficiency of the silicon oxide material is only about 70%. After many technical improvements in recent years, the first time efficiency has also been increased by about 80%. , which is still far behind the 90% of graphite materials. Therefore, in order to take advantage of the high specific capacity of SiOX materials, it is necessary to use a lithium replenishment process to supplement the irreversible capacity loss during the first lithium insertion process.

Comparison of positive electrode lithium supplementation process and negative electrode lithium supplementation process

At present, the lithium replenishment process is mainly divided into two categories; 1) negative electrode lithium replenishment process; 2) positive electrode lithium replenishment process. Among them, the negative electrode lithium replenishment process is our most common lithium replenishment method, such as lithium powder lithium replenishment and lithium foil lithium replenishment. These are all lithium supplementation processes that major manufacturers are currently focusing on developing. The lithium powder replenishment process was first proposed by FMC Company. FMC Company developed inert lithium powder for this purpose, and added an appropriate amount of lithium powder to the negative electrode through processes such as spraying and homogenization. Lithium foil replenishment is also an emerging lithium replenishment process in recent years. The metal lithium foil is rolled to a thickness of several microns, and then compounded and rolled with the negative electrode. After the battery is filled with liquid, these metal Li react quickly with the negative electrode and are embedded in the negative electrode material, thus improving the first efficiency of the material. However, these methods have to face a problem - the safety of metallic lithium. Metal lithium is a highly reactive alkali metal that can react violently with water, making metallic lithium very demanding on the environment. This makes these two Each negative electrode lithium replenishment process requires huge investment in the transformation of the production line and the purchase of expensive lithium replenishment equipment. At the same time, in order to ensure the lithium replenishment effect, the existing production process also needs to be adjusted.

Compared with the difficult and high-investment negative electrode lithium supplementation process, the positive electrode lithium supplementation process is much simpler. The typical positive electrode lithium supplementation process is to add a small amount of high-capacity positive electrode material to the positive electrode during the homogenization process. During the charging process, excess Li elements are extracted from these high-capacity cathode materials and embedded into the negative electrode to supplement the irreversible capacity of the first charge and discharge. For example, Xin Su and others from Argonne National Laboratory in the United States increased the first efficiency of the battery by 14% by adding 7% Li5FeO4 (LFO) material to the LiCoO2 cathode, and significantly improved the battery's cycle performance. The theoretical specific capacity of Li5FeO4 material can reach 700mAh/g, and almost all the capacity is irreversible. After the delithiation is completed, the material quickly deactivates and no longer participates in the charge and discharge reaction. The delithiation equation: Li5FeO4®4Li++4e-+LiFeO2+O2 .

Giulio Gabrielli and others from Germany adopted a method of mixing two positive active materials: LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 and Li1+XNi0.5Mn1.5O4. Li1+XNi0.5Mn1.5O4 can be used during the first charging process of the battery. Provide additional Li to make up for the loss of Li during the first lithium insertion process of the negative electrode. After complete delithiation, Li1+ Impact, Li1+XNi0.5Mn1.5O4 can be regarded as a cathode material that temporarily stores excess Li. By changing the ratio of Li1+XNi0.5Mn1.5O4 and LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, the amount of additional Li that the cathode can provide can be Control is performed to accommodate negative electrodes with different first efficiency.

Through the above analysis, it is not difficult to find that the biggest advantage of the positive electrode lithium replenishment process is that the process is simple. There is no need to change the existing lithium-ion battery production process, nor to transform the existing production workshop, nor to purchase. Expensive lithium replenishment equipment, and more importantly, the positive electrode lithium replenishment greatly improves the safety of the lithium replenishment process. However, the positive electrode lithium replenishment process may cause the proportion of the active material of the positive electrode to decrease. For example, when using Li5FeO4, it needs to reach 7 % content, and these products after lithium supplementation are inactive, thus affecting the further improvement of the energy density of lithium-ion batteries.

Comparing the two lithium supplementation methods, the author is more optimistic about the positive electrode lithium supplementation. The negative electrode lithium replenishment process has strict conditions, high investment, and the use of metallic lithium poses greater safety risks. In contrast, the positive electrode lithium replenishment process is simple, does not require the modification of existing production lines and processes, and has a small investment. There is no safety risk. The cathode lithium supplementation process developed by Giulio Gabrielli and others solves the problem of lithium supplementation products affecting the composition of the cathode. Although this technology is currently only applied to LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 materials, through the development of related technologies, this supplementation It is believed that the lithium process can also be applied to ternary materials such as NCM and NCA to improve the first efficiency of the battery. (New Energy Leader)

Related suggestion：

18500-2400mAh 3C

18500-2000mAh 3C

14500-1250mAh 3C

How do batteries promote the development of new energy vehicles?

Uninterruptible power supply technology principles, characteristics and development