• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2012

Increasing demand of energy, the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, energy security and the climate change have forced us to look upon alternate energy resources. For today's electric vehicles that run on lithium-ion batteries, one of the biggest downsides is the limited range between recharging. Over the past several years, researchers have been working on lithium-air battery. These batteries could significantly increase the range of electric vehicles due to their high energy density, which could theoretically be equal to the energy density of gasoline. Li-air batteries are potentially viable ultra-high energy density chemical power sources, which could potentially offer specific energies up to 3000 $Whkg^{-1}$ being rechargeable. This paper provides a review on Lithium air battery as alternate energy resource for the future.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.164-171
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• 2019

Nano-sized $SnO_2$ powders were synthesized via a solvent thermal reaction using $SnClO_4$, NaOH, and ethylene glycol at $150^{\circ}C$. TGA, SEM, FT-IR, XRD, and Potentiostat/Galvanostat were employed to investigate the chemical and electrochemical characteristics of the synthesized $SnO_2$. The structure of $SnO_2$ was amorphous, and when heat treated at $500^{\circ}C$, it was transformed into a crystalline structure. The morphology obtained by SEM micrographs of the as-synthesized $SnO_2$ showed powder features that had diameters ranging 100 to 200 nm. The electrochemical performance of the crystalline $SnO_2$ as a Li-air battery cathode was better than that of the amorphous $SnO_2$. The specific capacity of the crystalline $SnO_2$ was at least 350 mAh/g at 10 mA/g discharge rate. However, there was some capacity loss of all the cells during the consecutive cycles. Keywords : Lithium-Air Battery.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2022

High nickel layered oxide cathodes are gaining increasing attention for lithium-ion batteries due to their higher energy density and lower cost compared to LiCoO₂. However, they suffer from the formation of residual lithium on the surface in the form of LiOH and Li₂CO₃ on exposure to ambient air. The residual lithium causes notorious issues, such as slurry gelation during electrode preparation and gas evolution during cell cycling. In this review, we investigate the residual lithium issues through its impact on cathode slurry instability based on deformed polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) as well as its formation and reduction mechanism in terms of inherently off-stoichiometric synthesis of high nickel cathodes. Additionally, new analysis method with anhydrous methanol was introduced to exclude Li⁺/H⁺ exchange effect during sample preparation with distilled water. We hope that this review would contribute to encouraging the academic efforts to consider practical aspects and mitigation in global high-energy-density lithium-ion battery manufacturers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.936-941
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• 2004

In recent years, the rapid growth of portable electronic devices requires the high-energy density characteristics of batteries. Zinc air batteries have specific capacity as high as 820mAh/g. However, Zinc air batteries used for hearing aid applications only so far, because the atmosphere could affect it, and it has weakness in the rate capability. However, recent developments of electrode manufacturing technologies made us to overcome that weakness. And the efforts of applying zinc air batteries to portable electronic devices, especially in cellular phone application have been increased. In this paper, the effects of conducting material and polymer binder in cathode on the electrochemical characteristics were investigated. Our research team succeeded in producing 2.4Ah class zinc air battery for cellular phone application. Its volumetric energy density was 920 wh/l, and gravimetric energy density was 308 wh/kg. The volumetric energy density of our zinc air battery is two times higher than one of lithium secondary battery, and three times higher than that of alkaline manganese battery.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.3221-3224
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• 2010

This study investigates the requirements of lithium-air cathodes, which directly influence discharge capacity. The cathodes of Li-air cell are made by using five different carbon materials, such as Ketjen black EC600JD, Super P, Ketjen black EC300JD, Denka black, and Ensaco 250G. The Ketjen black EC600JD provides discharge capacity of 2600 mAh/g per carbon weight, while that of Ensaco 250G shows only 579 mAh/g. To figure out the differences of discharge capacity from carbon materials, their surface area and pore volume are analyzed. These are found out to be the critical factors in determining discharge capacity. Furthermore, carbon loading on Ni foam and amounts of electrolyte are significant factors that affect discharge capacity. In order to investigate catalyst effect, electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) is incorporated and delivered 4307 mAh/g per carbon weight. This infers that EMD facilitates to break $O_2$ interactions and leads to enhance discharge capacity.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.289-296
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• 2016

The availability of NMP, a solvent used in the manufacturing process of cathode material for lithium ion battery, depends on importation, and the price remains high because of the monopoly of BASF and ISP. For these reasons, most Lithium ion battery manufacturers reuse NMP after recovering it from the exhaust air in the drying process. In Korea, absorption method is mainly used for recovering NMP from the absorption tower using the hydrophilicity of NMP. However, this system has a few disadvantages, such as low purity (80％) of the recovered NMP and 100％ emission due to high water content of the treated gas. In this study, we develop a hybrid NMP recovery system by combining cooling condensation method with concentration method, by which it is possible to obtain an NMP recovery rate of 99.6％, and a high purity (96.1％) of the recovered NMP.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.198-205
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• 2012

Carbon-supported manganese oxide composite were fabricated as an air cathode material for Li-air batteries by hydrothermal method. The composite materials of carbon and manganese oxide were investigated by the implementation of X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM and BET surface area measurer. The manganese oxide synthesized at $170^{\circ}C$ for 12 h has a rod like shape morphology with 40-50 nm long in size. A Lithium-air battery with coin type, of which electrodes are composed of cathode composite materials synthesized $170^{\circ}C$-12 h and lithium metal anode, reveals its first discharge capacity of 3,852 mAh/g and four discharge-charge cycles.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2016

As precursors of cathode materials for lithium ion batteries, $Ni_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}(OH)_2$ powders are prepared in a continuously stirred tank reactor via a co-precipitation reaction between aqueous metal sulfates and NaOH in the presence of $NH_4OH$ in air or nitrogen ambient. Calcination of the precursors with $Li_2CO_3$ for 8 h at $1,000^{\circ}C$ in air produces dense spherical cathode materials. The precursors and final powders are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, particle size analysis, tap density measurement, and thermal gravimetric analysis. The precursor powders obtained in air or nitrogen ambient show XRD patterns identified as $Ni_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}(OH)_2$. Regardless of the atmosphere, the final powders exhibit the XRD patterns of $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ (NCM). The precursor powders obtained in air have larger particle size and lower tap density than those obtained in nitrogen ambient. NCM powders show similar tendencies in terms of particle size and tap density. Electrochemical characterization is performed after fabricating a coin cell using NCM as the cathode and Li metal as the anode. The NCM powders from the precursors obtained in air and those from the precursors obtained in nitrogen have similar initial charge/discharge capacities and cycle life. In conclusion, the powders co-precipitated in air can be utilized as precursor materials, replacing those synthesized in the presence of nitrogen injection, which is the usual industrial practice.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.5-12
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• 1999

By the PVA-precursor method, polycrystalline powder of $Li_xNi_{1-y}Co_yO_2$, cathode material for lithium battery, was synthesized. Using the powder as the cathode material, lithium ion batteries were fabricated, whose electrochemical properties were measured. The effect of changing synthetic conditions, such as PvA/metal mole ratio, concentration of PVA, degree of polymerization of PVA, pyrolysis condition, and metal stoichiometry, on the battery performance was investigated. Considering the initial performance of the cell, the optimum stoichiometry of the $Li_xNi_{1-y}Co_yO_2$, synthesized by the PVA-precursor method was observed to be x: 1.0 and y=0.26. A minor phase of $Li_2CO_3$, which was generated by the residual carbon in the powder precursor, deteriorated the performance of the cell. In order to eliminate the minor phase, the precursor had to be pyrolyzed under the flow of dry air. Annealing the powder at $500^{\circ}C$ under the flow of dry air also eliminated the minor phase, and the performance of the cell was largely improved by the treatment.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.838-842
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• 2015

The Li-air battery is a promising candidate for the most energy-dense electrochemical power source because it has 5 to 10 times greater energy storage capacity than that of Li-ion batteries. However, the Li-air cell performance falls short of the theoretical estimate, primarily because the discharge terminates well before the pore volume of the air electrode is completely filled with lithium oxides. Therefore, the structure of carbon used in the air electrode is a critical factor that affects the performance of Li-air batteries. In a previous study, we reported a new class of carbon nanomaterial, named carbon nanoballs (CNBs), consisting of highly mesoporous spheres. Structural characterization revealed that the synthesized CNBs have excellent a meso-macro hierarchical pore structure, with an average diameter greater than 10 nm and a total pore volume more than $1.00cm^3g^{-1}$. In this study, CNBs are applied in an actual Li-air battery to evaluate the electrochemical performance. The formation mechanism and electrochemical performance of the CNBs are discussed in detail.