LCO Batteries

LCO batteries: properties and usage

LCO stands for Lithium cobalt battery. Lithium cobalt oxide is one of the most common Lithium-ions, it has a chemical symbol which is LiCoO2 and is abbreviated as LCO. For simplification, Li-cobalt –which is the short term- can also be used for this type battery. Cobalt is the core active material which defines the character of the battery.

Lithium-ion batteries and concept

The most popular technology of the battery sector currently is the lithium ion battery. Relative to other types of batteries, lithium ion batteries have better energy, power density and higher cycling ability. These qualities are extremely important in the use in modern applications like electrical and hybrid vehicles and most importantly energy storage systems which are used in the renewable energy applications.The lithium ion batteries chemistry is the same across the different lithium-ion battery types; during discharge, Lithium-ions are moved to the positive cathode from the negative anode through the organic electrolyte. The anodes in all various technologies of lithium ion are all made from graphite. The differences are the cathode which contains changing cobalt, nickel or manganese concentrations. All various cathode types allow high lithium insertion and intercalation levels which result in large energy storage quantities.

LCO batteries technology and applications

LCO (Lithium cobalt oxide) was invented in the year 1991. Its anode material is LiaC6, the cathode material is LibCoO2 and the carrier is Li+.It is used in various applications ranging from electronic devices to all laptops and phone batteries.The majority of lithium-ion batteries for the portable devices are cobalt based. The system contains a cobalt oxide cathode (positive electrode) and graphite carbon anode (negative electrode).

Advantages and disadvantages of LCO batteries

The main advantages of the LCO batteries are:

• High energy density.
• Long runtime making it optimum for new technologies

The main disadvantages of the LCO batteries are:

• It has a relatively low discharge current so high load can lead to pack overheat
• The safety circuit of the LCO battery is typically limited to a 1C for charging and discharging.
• The internal resistance increases with cycling and aging. This high internal resistance can cause the battery to become unserviceable due to a large voltage drop under the load after a couple of years of use.