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Lithium Air Batteries Based on Protected Lithium Electrodes

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The Lithium Air Battery

Abstract

The last major advance in portable electrochemical energy storage was the introduction of Li-ion chemistry by Sony in 1991. Since that time battery manufacturers have been relentless in pursuing incremental improvements to Li-ion technology. Still, there are fundamental limits to any battery chemistry and Li-ion technology is clearly maturing. In pursuit of the next battery breakthrough, a number of researchers are exploring the Li/O2 couple, due largely to its extremely high theoretical energy density and the low cost of the oxygen electrode. However, in order to realize those gains, the Li/O2 battery will need to utilize ambient air, and this presents a major technical hurdle as ambient moisture will attack and rapidly corrode the lithium metal electrode. Fortunately, the invention of the protected lithium electrode (PLE) by PolyPlus solves this problem and enables the practical construction of both primary and secondary lithium air batteries. In this chapter we highlight the advances and challenges in aqueous and nonaqueous lithium air battery technology. Notably, external testing of PolyPlus 10 Ah primary lithium air cells has confirmed specific energies in excess of 800 Wh/kg.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is likely that a combination of LiOH and LiCl hydrates and/or complexes, as well as lithium peroxide, Li2O2, is formed on cell discharge.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded in part by ARPA-E of the US Department of Energy and by the US Army CERDEC. The authors also acknowledge the participation of V. Loginova in the experimental work at PolyPlus, cell testing by Dr. Terrill Atwater at APG, and helpful discussions with Dr. P.N. Ross of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in Berkeley, California.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PolyPlus Battery Company, 2431 5th Street, Berkeley, CA, 94710, USA

    Steven J. Visco, Vitaliy Nimon, Alexei Petrov, Kirill Pridatko, Nikolay Goncharenko, Eugene Nimon & Lutgard De Jonghe

  2. US Army CERDEC, APG, 5100 Magazine Road, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005, USA

    Mary Hendrickson & Edward Plichta

Authors
  1. Steven J. Visco
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  2. Vitaliy Nimon
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  3. Alexei Petrov
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  4. Kirill Pridatko
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  5. Nikolay Goncharenko
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  6. Eugene Nimon
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  7. Lutgard De Jonghe
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  8. Mary Hendrickson
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  9. Edward Plichta
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven J. Visco .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineeri, Mie University, Tsu, Japan

    Nobuyuki Imanishi

  2. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and, Menlo Park, California, USA

    Alan C. Luntz

  3. School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom

    Peter Bruce

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Visco, S.J. et al. (2014). Lithium Air Batteries Based on Protected Lithium Electrodes. In: Imanishi, N., Luntz, A., Bruce, P. (eds) The Lithium Air Battery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8062-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8062-5_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-8061-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-8062-5

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