The influence of temperature on area-specific impedance and capacity of Li-ion cells with nickel-containing positive electrodes

The temperature-dependent behaviors of five nickel-containing positive electrodes (NCA, NMC811, NMC622, NMC532, and NMC111) in lithium-ion batteries are investigated using an electrochemical protocol involving rate studies, mild aging (~100 cycles), and hybrid pulse power characterization (HPPC). Tests are conducted using coin-cells with graphite negative electrodes at -20 ???C, 0 ???C, 20 ???C, and 40 ???C. Three techniques are compared for determining the area-specific impedance (ASI): i) fits to the rate study average voltages, ii) fitting to the entire voltage curves using a regularization scheme, and iii) HPPC. When fit to an Arrhenius-type equation, all methods yield similar apparent activation energies (??2 kJ/mol) for the impedance, which range from -20 to -31 kJ/mol for the electrodes. Impedance growth increases with temperature but remains at less than 0.2% per cycle for most electrodes and temperatures. NCA and NMC811 are the exceptions, which yield 0.5% and 1.5% increases in ASI per cycle, respectively, at 40 ???C. For cells with the same electrodes, the capacities are similar at 20 and 40 ???C but reduce at lower temperatures, with up to a 52% reduction at -20 ???C and 2C. The fade in energy of the cells during C/3 cycling is attributed to decreasing capacity as opposed to increasing ASI.

Automated summary

The temperature-dependent behaviors of five nickel-containing positive electrodes in lithium-ion batteries are investigated. The impedance growth of the electrodes increases with temperature, with exceptions of NCA and NMC811 which show significant increases in ASI at 40°C. The capacity of the cells reduces at lower temperatures.