The need for rechargeable batteries of higher capacity with smaller size and weight grew in the 1980s. All attempts to convert the metallic lithium battery into a secondary battery were unsuccessful. The lithium ion battery, defined as �a nonaqueous secondary battery using transition metal oxides containing lithium ions such as LiCoO2 as a cathode and carbonaceous material as an anode,� met this need. LiCoO2 was first used as a cathode material by Goodenough J.B. in 1979, although it was in combination with metallic lithium as an anode material. In 1981 the author began research on nonaqueous secondary batteries using polyacetylene as an anode. Discovered by Shirakawa H., polyacetylene is an electroconductive polymer. Many researchers studied polyacetylene as a cathode, but the author studied it as an anode. The problem was finding a suitable positive electrode material as a donor of lithium ions to the polyacetylene anode during charging. LiCoO2 offered a solution, and in 1983 the author invented a new secondary battery using LiCoO2 as a cathode and polyacetylene as an anode. Although this first cell was functional, the low real density of polyacetylene meant that available capacity was limited, and polyacetylene's chemical stability was inadequate. The author therefore searched for a new carbonaceous material to replace polyacetylene as an anode.Many researchers had studied graphite as an anode, but propylene carbonate, the common organic electrolyte, would decompose during charging when graphite was used. The author found that carbonaceous material with a certain crystalline structure increased capacity without causing decomposition of propylene carbonate as graphite did, and invented the LIB in 1985.

Course of development of the lithium ion battey and outlook for the future

247th National Meeting (2014)

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