The negative electrode of a lithium-ion battery is made by uniformly coating both sides of a copper foil with a paste-like adhesive, consisting of carbon or non-carbon active materials, binders, and additives, followed by drying and rolling. The negative electrode material is the primary component for storing lithium in a lithium-ion battery, enabling lithium ions to be inserted and extracted during charging and discharging. From a technological perspective, future lithium-ion battery negative electrode materials will exhibit diverse characteristics.
With technological advancements, current lithium-ion battery anode materials have evolved from a single type of artificial graphite to a situation where natural graphite, mesophase carbon microspheres, and artificial graphite are the main materials, while soft/hard carbon, amorphous carbon, lithium titanate, silicon-carbon alloys, and other anode materials coexist.
Anode material: Graphite is commonly used. New research suggests that titanates may be a better material. Anode reaction: Lithium ions insert during charging and de-inserte during discharging. During charging: xLi++ xe-+ 6C → LixC6 During discharging: LixC6→ xLi++ xe-+ 6C
Lithium-ion battery anode materials can be roughly divided into six types: carbon anode materials, alloy anode materials, tin-based anode materials, lithium-containing transition metal nitride anode materials, nanoscale materials, and nano anode materials.
The first type is carbon anode materials: the anode materials actually used in lithium-ion batteries are basically carbon materials, such as artificial graphite, natural graphite, mesophase carbon microspheres, petroleum coke, carbon fiber, pyrolytic resin carbon, etc.
The second type is tin-based anode materials: Tin-based anode materials can be divided into two types: tin oxides and tin-based composite oxides. Oxides refer to oxides of metallic tin in various valence states. There are no commercially available products.
The third type is lithium-containing transition metal nitride anode materials, for which there are no commercially available products.
The fourth type is alloy-based anode materials: including tin-based alloys, silicon-based alloys, germanium-based alloys, aluminum-based alloys, antimony-based alloys, magnesium-based alloys, and other alloys, none of which are commercially available.
The fifth type is nanoscale anode materials: carbon nanotubes and nanoalloy materials.
The sixth type of nanomaterial is nano-oxide material: According to the latest market development trends in the lithium battery new energy industry in 2009, many companies have begun to use nano-titanium oxide and nano-silicon oxide to add to the traditional graphite, tin oxide and carbon nanotubes, which greatly improves the charge and discharge capacity and charge and discharge cycles of lithium batteries.
