Thermal Properties of Lithium‐Ion Battery and Components

TLDR

The study presents experimental thermal property data for the Sony US‑18650 lithium‑ion battery and its components, along with the techniques used to measure them. Specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity were measured for the battery and its components, both with and without 1 M LiPF6 electrolyte, using a xenon‑flash method to determine diffusivity. Heat capacity increased from 0.96 ± 0.02 J g⁻¹ K⁻¹ at 2.75 V to 1.04 ± 0.02 J g⁻¹ K⁻¹ at 3.75 V, and thermal conductivity rose with open‑circuit voltage—26 % in the negative electrode and 5–6 % in the positive electrode—while electrolyte addition eliminated this voltage dependence but substantially raised overall conductivity by reducing thermal contact resistance, with in‑plane conductivity nearly an order of magnitude higher than cross‑plane.

Abstract

Experimental thermal property data of the Sony US-18650 lithium-ion battery and components are presented, as well as thermal property measuring techniques. The properties in question are specific heat capacity (C{sub p}), thermal diffusivity ({alpha}), and thermal conductivity ({kappa}), in the presence and absence of electrolyte [1 M LiPF{sub 6} in ethylene carbonate-dimethyl carbonate (EC:DMC, 1:1 wt %)]. The heat capacity of the battery, C{sub p}, is 0.96 {+-} 0.02 J/g K at an open-circuit voltage (OCV) of 2.75 V, and 1.04 {+-} 0.02 J/g K at 3.75 V. The thermal conductivity, {kappa}, was calculated from {kappa} {identical_to} {alpha}{rho}C{sub p} where {alpha} was measured by a xenon-flash technique. In the absence of electrolyte, {kappa} increases with OCV, for both the negative electrode (NE) and the positive electrode (PE). For the NE, the increase is 26% as the OCV increases from 2.75 to 3.75 V, whereas for the PE the increase is only 5 to 6%. The dependence of both C{sub p} and {kappa} on OCV is explained qualitatively by considering the effect of lithiation and delithiation on the electron carrier density, which leads to n-type semiconduction in the graphitic NE material, but a change from semiconducting to metallic character in Li{submore » x}CoO{sub 2} PE material. The overall effect is an increase of C{sub p} and {kappa} with OCV. For {kappa} this dependence is eliminated by electrolyte addition, which, however, greatly increases the effective {kappa} of the layered battery components by lowering the thermal contact resistance. For both NE and PE, the in-plane {kappa} value (measured along layers) is nearly one order of magnitude higher than the cross-plane {kappa}. This is ascribed mostly to the high thermal conductivity of the current collectors and to a lesser extent to the orientation of particles in the layers of electrodes.« less