Investigation of Trace Hydrogen Uptake in Lithium-Ion Battery Using Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis

摘要

Lithium-ion batteries have become the choice of power source for portable electronic devices, but only 50% of the theoretical capacity of the presently used layered cobalt oxide cathode (LiCoO_2) could be utilized in practical cells. The. analogous nickel-rich layered LiNi_(0.85)Co_(0.15)O_2 cathode delivers a much higher capacity (65 %). The reason for this limitation is not fully understood in the literature. Recent investigations suggest that loss of oxygen from the lattice, insertion of protons into the lattice, or both at deep charge may play a role in this regard. The challenge in addressing this issue is to detect and determine the hydrogen contents precisely in the layered oxide cathodes. The objective of this work is to use the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) cold neutron prompt gamma-ray activation analysis (PGAA) to determine precisely the proton contents in the layered oxide battery materials.