Development of a Novel, Thin Film Lithium-ion Battery Technology

Lithium-ion batteries offer several performance advantages over conventional rechargeable batteries including higher specific energy ( 150Wh/kg), energy density (>325 Wh/L) and cycle life. While these advantages have lead to the recent growth oflithium-ion technology for various consumer applications, this technology still needs development to be used in some non-commercial applications that require higher rate, longer cycle life and an expanded operating temperature range. This proposed studyinvolves the replacement of the standard anode material in state of the art lithium-ion cells with a low cost silicon based material that will significantly improve the cells performance in the area of cycle life, energy density, power density andexpanded temperature operating range. In addition to the change of anode, a new separator system will be utilized that is low cost and will improve safety aspects of this system. The technology being explored in this study would advance the state of theart in lithium-ion technology in the areas of energy density, specific energy and cycle life. The commercial potential for this technology will be in the areas of aerospace and portable electronic applications that require more energy and an expandedtemperature operating range than what is now commercially available.