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A lithium-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that can be charged and used many times over. It matters because it powers most modern portable devices like smartphones and laptops, and is widely used in electric vehicles.
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A lithium-ion battery or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. There are many different varieties, which are usually categorized by the materials used in the cathode. Compared to other types of rechargeable batteries, they generally have higher specific energy, energy density, and energy efficiency and a longer cycle life and calendar life. In the three decades since Li-ion batteries were first sold in 1991, their volumetric energy density increased threefold while their cost dropped tenfold. In late 2024, global demand passed 1 terawatt-hour per year, while production capacity was more than twice that.
The invention and commercialization of Li-ion batteries has had a large impact on technology, as recognized by the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was awarded to contributors to the development of Li-ion batteries. Li-ion batteries have enabled portable consumer electronics, laptop computers, cellular phones, and electric cars. They are used for grid-scale energy storage and in military and aerospace applications. Li-ion battery sizes are generally not standardised (e.g. in the spirit of the AA battery) and they come in various and unique form factors depending on device and vendor. They typically have a nominal voltage of 3.6 or 3.7 V.