Theory of SEI Formation in Rechargeable Batteries: Capacity Fade, Accelerated Aging and Lifetime Prediction

Cycle life is critically important in applications of rechargeable batteries, but lifetime prediction is mostly based on empirical trends, rather than mathematical models. In practical lithium-ion batteries, capacity fade occurs over thousands of cycles, limited by slow electrochemical processes, such as the formation of a solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) in the negative electrode, which compete with reversible lithium intercalation. Focusing on SEI growth as the canonical degradation mechanism, we show that a simple single-particle model can accurately explain experimentally observed capacity fade in commercial cells with graphite anodes, and predict future fade based on limited accelerated aging data for…

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  Samsung