• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2024

This paper presents applications of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) energy storage batteries, while showing merits and demerits of several techniques to mitigate their electrochemical challenges. Unmanned aerial vehicles, electric cars, and grid-scale energy storage systems represent main applications of Li-S batteries due to their low cost, high specific capacity, and light weight. However, polysulfide shuttle effects, low conductivities, and low coulombic efficiencies signify key challenges of Li-S batteries, causing high volumetric changes, dendritic growths, and limited cycling performances. Solid-state electrolytes, interfacial interlayers, and electrocatalysts denote promising methods to mitigate such challenges. Moreover, nanomaterials have capability to improve kinetic reactions of Li-S batteries based on several properties of nanoparticles to immobilize sulfur in cathodes, stabilizing lithium in anodes while controlling volumetric growths. Li-S energy storage technologies are able to satisfy requirements of future markets for advanced rechargeable batteries with high-power densities and low costs, considering environmentally friendly systems based on renewable energy sources.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.57-70
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• 2011

To address global climate change, various governments are investing in electric vehicle research and, especially in Korea, the application of electric vehicles to public transportation. The lithium batteries used in electric vehicles typically have an expected life cycle of 2-5 years. If electric vehicles become commonly used, they will generate many discarded batteries that could be harmful to the environment. Additionally, lithium batteries are potentially explosive and should be handled appropriately. Thus, reverse logistics issues are involved in handling expired batteries efficiently and safely. Reverse logistics includes the collection, recycling, remanufacturing, and discarding of waste. This study developed a reverse logistics process for electric vehicle batteries after analyzing the as-is process for lead and lithium batteries. It also developed possible disposal regulations for electric vehicle batteries based on current laws regarding conventional batteries.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.69-70
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• 2006

In lithium-ion batteries, separator membrane's, main role is to physically isolate a cathode and an anode while maintaining rapid transport of ionic charge carriers during the passage of electric current. As far as battery safety is concerned, the electrical isolation of electrodes is most crucial since unexpected short-circuits across the membrane induces hot spots where thermal runaway may break out. Internal short-circuits are generally believed to occur by protrusions on the electrode surface either by unavoidable deposits of metallic impurities or by dendritic lithium growth during battery operation. Another cause is shrinkage of the separator membrane when exposed to heat. If separator membrane can be engineered to prevent the internal short-circuit, it will not be difficult to improve lithium-ion batteries' safety. Commonly the separators employed in lithium-ion batteries are made of polyethylene (PE) and/or polypropylene (PP). These materials have terrible limitations in preventing the fore-mentioned internal short-circuit between electrodes due to their poor dimensional stability and mechanical strength. In this study we have developed a novel separator membrane that possesses very high thermal and mechanical stability. The cells employing this separator provided noticeable safety improvement in the various abuse tests.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.225-233
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• 2021

Conventional submarine propulsion batteries have mainly used lead acid batteries, which have proved relatively safe, but in recent years, research on mounting lithium-ion batteries to improve the underwater operation capability of submarines is underway in advanced countries such as Japan. Korea has world-class technology in the development of electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, but fire safety accidents continue to occur in electric vehicles and energy storage lithium-ion batteries. In order to mount the lithium-ion battery in a submarine, it is necessary to check the safety as well as whether the performance is improved compared to the lead acid battery. Through the charge/discharge experiment of this lithium-ion battery module unit, it was possible to measure how much performance was improved compared to the lead acid battery. Safety tests were conducted on the lithium-ion battery module assuming that it was mounted on a submarine, and it was confirmed that safety was secured when applied to a submarine. Since many modules are mounted on actual submarines, it has been confirmed that it can be applied to submarine systems by simulating charge/discharge characteristics through Hardware-in-the Loop(HILS). Through the results of this study, the application of lithium-ion batteries to submarines is expected to significantly improve the sustainability of underwater operations.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2011

Lithium ion batteries are found to have wide range of applications in variety of mobile devices ranging from simple toys to electric vehicles. The performance of these batteries depends on the choice of constituent materials. In this lecture, the materials aspects and perspectives of the electrode batteries will be discussed. Results from some of the specific studies made at speaker's laboratory will be presented.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.97-114
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• 2016

Lithium batteries based on elemental sulfur as the cathode-active material capture great attraction due to the high theoretical capacity, easy availability, low cost and non-toxicity of sulfur. Although lithium/sulfur (Li/S) primary cells were known much earlier, the interest in developing Li/S secondary batteries that can deliver high energy and high power was actively pursued since early 1990’s. A lot of technical challenges including the low conductivity of sulfur, dissolution of sulfur-reduction products in the electrolyte leading to their migration away from the cathode, and deposition of solid reaction products on cathode matrix had to be tackled to realize a high and stable performance from rechargeable Li/S cells. This article presents briefly an overview of the studies pertaining to the different aspects of Li/S batteries including those that deal with the sulfur electrode, electrolytes, lithium anode and configuration of the batteries.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.256-261
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• 2019

The use of military lithium batteries in this field accelerates the generation of internal pressure because the active materials, lithium and the electrolyte, react to form sulfur dioxide gas. This also reduces the amount of electrolyte. In this condition, batteries can 'vent' or 'explode' especially when completely discharged. Such venting and explosion can be regarded as a safety accident, as toxic gases and shrapnel are ejected from the batteries which can harm the user. A DTaQ was carried out in 2017 as a quality problem solution project to solve this safety issue. A protection circuit was thereby developed, which included a micro controller unit (MCU) which can stop battery usage when in an over-discharging state by sensing its low-voltage condition. In 2018, this concept was expanded to lithium batteries for the remote controlled ammunition system. This paper reports results of the improved performance.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.457-465
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• 2009

Lithium batteries are widely used in mobile electronic devices due to their higher voltage and energy density, lighter weight and longer life cycle compared to other secondary batteries. In particular, high demand for lithium batteries is expected for electric cars. In case of lithium batteries used in electric cars, driving distance must be calculated accurately and discharging should not be done below the level of making it impossible to crank. Therefore, accurate information about state of charge (SOC) becomes an essential element for reliable driving. In this paper, a new method of estimating the SOC of lithium polymer batteries by using AC impedance is proposed. In the proposed method, parameters are extracted by fitting a curve of impedance measured at each frequency on the equivalent impedance model and extracted parameters are used to estimate SOC. Experiments were conducted on lithium polymer batteries with similar capacities made by different manufacturers to prove the validity of the proposed method.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.12a
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• pp.153-166
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• 1998

Lithium ion Batteries commercially available since the early nineties in Japan are going to be more and more important for portable electronic devices and even EV applications. Today several companies around the world are working hard to join to market for Lithium secondary batteries. Based on the growing interest for commercial use of batteries also the materials have to be reviewed in order to meet large scale production needs. The requirements especially for electrolytes for lithium batteries are extremely high. The solvents and the lithium salts should be of highest purity. So the supply of these chemicals including packaging, transportation and storage but also the handling in production are critical items in this field. Frolic impurities are very critical for LiPF6 based electrolytes. The influence of water is tremendous. But also the other protic impurities like alcoholes are playing an Important role for the electrolyte quality. The reaction of these species with LiPF6 leads to formation of HF which further reacts with cathode materials (spinel) and anode. To understand the role of the protic impurities more clearly the electrolyte was doped with such compounds and was analyzed for protic impurities and HF. These results which directly show the relation between impurities and quality will be presented and discussed. In addition several investigations on different packaging materials as well as methods to analyze and handle the sensititive material will be addressed. These questions which are only partly discussed in literature so far and never been investigated systematically cover some of the key parameters for understanding of the battery chemicals. This investigation and understanding however is of major importance for scientist and engineers in the field of Lithium ion and Lithium polymer batteries.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.3253-3256
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• 2013

Lithium is a highly attractive material for high-energy-concentration batteries, since it has low weight and high potential. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which have the extremely high gravimetric and volumetric energy densities, are currently the most preferable power sources for future electric vehicles and various portable electronic devices. In order to improve the efficiency and lifetime, new electrode compounds for lithium intercalation or insertion have been investigated for rechargeable batteries. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a very useful tool to investigate the structural changes in electrode materials in actual working lithium-ion batteries. To detect the in-situ microstructural changes of electrode and electrolyte materials, $^7Li-^{19}F$ double-resonance solid-state NMR probe with a static solenoidal coil for a 600-MHz narrow-bore magnet was designed, constructed, and tested successfully.