Lithium-ion batteries may not work as believed
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028046
Ars Technica : In lithium-ion batteries, lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) transforms into FePO4 as the battery discharges. When it is recharged, the transformation is reversed. When lithium-ion batteries were first introduced two decades ago, the phase transitions were assumed to be from a pure LiFePO4 state to a pure FePO4 state and vice versa. Now it appears that there may be an intermediate, metastable state in between the two pure states. Researchers used x-ray diffraction to image lithium-ion batteries during their charge–discharge cycle. They found that the diffraction peaks were asymmetric, which suggests that the phase transition was not from one pure state to another. Better understanding of the charge–discharge mechanism could help the development of new materials to create better batteries.
