Metal Bulletin Research STRATEGIC OUTLOOK FOR THE PRIMARY BATTERY 2 | Page 4

Battery Metals

3 Battery Chemistry
Owing to these problems, the battery type is usually limited to use in portable electronics or as starter
batteries for aircraft and electric vehicles. Larger Ni-Cd batteries are also used as a standby power source
for emergency systems, given their durability.

3.5 Lithium-Ion

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are rechargeable batteries which use some lithium-based compound for a
cathode and various other materials for an anode. Unlike other battery types, there are many different
anode/cathode chemical configurations, all of which involved some form of lithium. Along with lithium the
most commonly used cathode materials are cobalt, manganese, thionyl-chloride, nickel-manganese-cobalt
(NMC) and phosphate. Anode materials typically used include graphites, graphenes, carbons and lithium
titanium oxide. Silicon and manufactured nano-materials may be used in the future. Commonly used
lithium-ion battery types include lithium-cobalt oxide, lithium-iron phosphate, lithium-manganese oxide and
lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide.
Different combinations of materials will lead to different energy densities and discharge voltages. Roughly
speaking, Li-ion batteries using manganese and phosphate will have energy densities of 95-135Wh/kg
(thou