Which is better, lithium-ion battery or polymer lithium-ion battery?

With the continuous improvement of high-tech and the increasing demand for energy conservation and environmental protection, more and more energy-saving and environmental protection products are being applied to the market. In terms of the battery market, lithium batteries have quickly replaced traditional lead-acid batteries with various advantages and become the main force in the energy storage market. There are many classifications of lithium batteries, including ternary materials, lithium iron phosphate materials, lithium-ion, iron manganese oxide, polymer lithium batteries, and so on. So, which is better, lithium-ion batteries or polymer lithium batteries? Please see the editor's analysis for everyone.

Which is better, lithium-ion battery or polymer lithium battery

The fundamental difference is the raw materials

This is the overall root cause of the different manifestations of the two. Polymer battery refers to the use of polymer materials in at least one of the three major components: positive electrode, negative electrode, or electrolyte. The meaning of high polymer is high molecular weight, and the corresponding concept is small molecule. High polymer has high strength, high toughness, and high elasticity. The polymer materials currently developed for polymer batteries are mainly used for positive electrodes and electrolytes In addition to using inorganic compounds from lithium batteries, conductive polymer materials can also be used as positive electrode materials for polymer batteries The electrolytes of polymer batteries include polymer electrolytes (solid or colloidal) and organic electrolytes, while lithium batteries use electrolytes (liquid or colloidal)

Differences in shaping
Polymer batteries can achieve thinness, arbitrary surface area, and arbitrary shape because their electrolyte can be solid and gelatinous rather than liquid, while lithium batteries use electrolyte and require a sturdy outer shell as a secondary packaging to accommodate the electrolyte. Therefore, this also adds some weight to lithium batteries.

Security aspect
The current polymers are mostly soft pack batteries, using aluminum-plastic film as the outer shell. When organic electrolytes are used internally, even if the liquid is very hot, it will not explode because aluminum-plastic film polymer batteries are solid or colloidal and have no leakage, only natural rupture. But nothing is absolute. If the instantaneous current is large enough and a short circuit occurs, it is not impossible for the battery to self ignite or burst. The occurrence of safety accidents in mobile phones and tablets is often caused by this situation.

Cell voltage
Due to the use of polymer materials in polymer batteries, multiple layers of cells can be combined to achieve high voltage, while the nominal capacity of lithium battery cells is 3.6V. To achieve high voltage in practical applications, multiple cells need to be connected in series to form an ideal high voltage working platform.

If we compare polymer batteries and lithium batteries based on the above characteristics, the conclusion is certain. However, the application of lithium batteries still dominates the market, indicating that lithium batteries also have relative advantages. We will continue to compare.

Conductivity
The solid electrolyte of polymer battery has low ionic conductivity. At present, some additives are added to make it a gel electrolyte to improve the conductivity. This only increases the ion conductivity, unlike lithium batteries where the conductivity remains stable and is not affected by the quality of auxiliary materials.

Capacity
The capacity of polymer batteries has not been effectively improved, and there is still a decrease compared to standard capacity lithium batteries.

Manufacturing process
The thinner the polymer battery, the better it can be produced, while the thicker the lithium battery, the better it can be produced. This allows lithium batteries to expand their applications in more fields.

Price
This is a key factor determining the market capacity of both. Currently, polymer batteries are generally priced higher than lithium batteries in the market, which affects the market capacity of the two. The ratio of the former to the latter is 1:9.

Guangzhou Battsys Co., Ltd (NEEQ:837375), was founded in 2006, which is a join-stock high-tech enterprise engaging in ODM and OEM , specially for customized and diverse research&production of lithium-ion battery，BATTSYS annual production capacity is tens of millions battery cells. The products are exported to dozens of countries & regions such as Europe, America & Asia etc.