Abstract
Lithium metal and silicon nanowires, with higher specific capacity than graphite, are the most promising alternative advanced anode materials for use in next-generation batteries. By comparing three batteries designed, respectively, with a lithium metal anode, a silicon nanowire anode, and a graphite anode, the authors strive to analyse the life cycle of different negative electrodes with different specific capacities and compare their cradle-to-gate environmental impacts. This paper finds that a higher specific capacity of the negative material causes lower environmental impact of the same battery. The battery with a lithium metal anode has a lower environmental impact than the battery with a graphite anode. Surprisingly, although the silicon nanowire anode has a higher specific energy than graphite, the production of a battery with silicon nanowires causes a higher environmental impact than the production of a battery with graphite. In fact, the high specific energy of silicon nanowires can decrease the environmental impact of a battery with silicon nanowires, but silicon nanowire preparation causes extremely high emissions. Therefore, batteries with lithium metal anodes are the most environmentally friendly lithium-ion batteries. Batteries with lithium metal anodes could be the next generation of environmentally friendly batteries for electric vehicles.
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Abbreviations
- 1,4-DB:
-
1,4-Dichlorobenzene
- BMS:
-
Battery management systems
- C:
-
Graphite
- C-A:
-
Graphite anode
- CO2 :
-
Carbon dioxide
- DoD:
-
Depth of discharge
- EVs:
-
Electric vehicles
- FDP:
-
Fossil depletion potential
- Fe:
-
Iron
- FEP:
-
Freshwater and marine eutrophication
- FU:
-
Functional unit
- GWP:
-
Global warming potential
- HTP:
-
Human toxicity potential
- kg eq:
-
Kilograms equivalents
- LCA:
-
Life cycle assessment
- LFP:
-
LiFePO4
- LFP-Li:
-
Battery with LiFePO4 cathode and lithium metal anode
- Li:
-
Lithium metal
- Li-A:
-
Lithium metal anode
- LIBs:
-
Lithium-ion batteries
- Li–O2 :
-
Lithium–air battery cells
- Li–S:
-
Lithium–sulphur battery
- LNCM:
-
0.5Li2MnO3·0.5LiNi0.44Co0.25Mn0.31O2
- MDP:
-
Metal depletion potential
- MEP:
-
Marine eutrophication potential
- N:
-
Nitrogen
- N/P ratio:
-
Capacity ratio of the negative electrode to the positive electrode
- NCM:
-
Lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide, LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2
- NCM-C:
-
Lithium-ion battery pack with NCM cathode and graphite anode
- NCM-Li:
-
Lithium-ion battery pack with NCM cathode and lithium metal anode
- NCM-SiNWs:
-
Lithium-ion battery pack with NCM cathode and silicon nanowire anode
- P:
-
Phosphor
- PM10:
-
Particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter
- PMF:
-
Particulate matter formation
- SiNWs:
-
Silicon nanowires
- SiNW-A:
-
Silicon nanowire anode
- SO2 :
-
Sulphur dioxide
- TAP:
-
Terrestrial acidification potential
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Professor Xiaoming Ma for helpful discussions, to the editor and reviewers for their valuable comments, and to Qinhong Luo for his valuable help with plotting the data. We would like to thank James Ding and Lianyi Quan for helping the researchers to check grammar errors.
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Wu, Z., Kong, D. Comparative life cycle assessment of lithium-ion batteries with lithium metal, silicon nanowire, and graphite anodes. Clean Techn Environ Policy 20, 1233–1244 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-018-1548-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-018-1548-9