INCREASING ENERGY DENSITY IN RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM BATTERY CELLS

摘要

Some embodiments of the present invention provide an improved rechargeable lithium battery. This rechargeable lithium battery includes a cathode current collector with a coating of cathode active material. It also includes an electrolyte separator, and an anode current collector with a coating of anode active material. Within this rechargeable battery, the thickness of the coating of cathode active material and the thickness of the coating of anode active material are selected so that the battery will charge in a predetermined maximum charging time with a predetermined minimum cycle life when the battery is charged using a multi-step constant-current constant-voltage (CC-CV) charging technique. Note that using the multi-step CC-CV charging technique instead of a conventional charging technique allows the thickness of the cathode active material and the thickness of the anode active material to be increased while maintaining the same predetermined maximum charging time and the same predetermined minimum cycle life. This increase in the thickness of the active materials effectively increases both the volumetric and gravimetric energy density of the battery cell.