Decoding Li-ion Cell Voltages Of Different Chemistries
While deciding an optimal Lithium-ion cell chemistry for different applications, I came across this question quite a few times, ' Why different Li-ion cell chemistries have different terminal voltages? ' There are numerous LiB chemistry types available in the market. e.g. Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO), Li Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA), Lithium Tantalate Oxide (LTO), Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), etc to name a few. However, each and every battery type has its positive-negative points. Although the working principle of all these chemistries is the same, their terminal voltages are different. For example, LCO cells can go up to 4.25V, NCA can be charged up to 4.2V whereas LFP and LTO type cells can have a maximum of 3.8V and ~2.5V respectively. This difference in the voltage has a very large effect on the battery capacity (since energy capacity is directly proportional to the battery voltage). In this blog, I will answer 'Why different LiB chemistries have different ...