Raw materials in battery technology: Lithium (Glossary)

Lithium is a light metal from the group of alkaline metals, only around half the weight of water. The silvery-white and quite soft metal tarnishes in air to produce lithium oxide and lithium nitride. In pure oxygen it burns with a bright red flame at 180°C to produce lithium oxide. Lithium reacts strongly with water to form lithium hydroxide.

Minerals from which lithium can be extracted include lepidolite, spodumene, petalite and amblygonite, important manufacturing countries include the USA, Canada, Australia and Chile.

Lithium is an important alloying additive, e.g. for axle bearing metals as well as organic catalysts. The annual global production is around 50,000 tons.

In battery technology lithium is used in lithium batteries as an electrode material, but on account of technical and safety problems it is practically only used in a variety of lithium alloys (e.g. lithium-aluminium) or lithium compounds (e.g. lithium-carbon). Due to the instability of lithium in water, no aqueous electrolytes maybe used in lithium batteries. Organic electrolytes with a high chemical resistance and good solubility for lithium salts, for example alcohol carbonate with lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆) or lithium imide (LiN(SO₂CF₃)₂) are used.

On account of the low specific weight of lithium, batteries with a high energy density can be manufactured. The lithium-iodine battery, for example, has proven to be an ideal primary battery for pacemakers. Thanks to the very low spontaneous discharge of such button cells they can be operated for 10 to 15 years, their typical energy density is 240 Wh/kg. In the secondary battery sector lithium-ion transfer batteries are gaining ground in applications that require a high energy density and where the relatively high price is accepted by consumers, e.g. mobile phones.

Some key technical data

Chemical symbol: Li

Atomic number: 3

Relative atomic mass: 6.94

Oxidation numbers: +1

Density: 0.53 g/cm³

Melting point: 181°C

Boiling point: 1,342°C

Specific electrical resistance: 9

	See also:
		Glossary overview Lithium-ion accumulators (Glossary) Li-ion / Mn high-current cells (Glossary) Lithium-Iron Phosphate Batteries (Glossary) Lithium Titanate Batteries (Glossary)

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