Lithium-Ion Cell

Power source · 1991

Year: 1991
Kind: Power source
Efficiency: 90–95 % round-trip.
Used In: Phones, laptops, electric vehicles, grid storage.
Power Density: 150–300 Wh/kg, the reason phones and electric cars exist.
Cycle: None

Materials

Graphite, lithium cobalt/nickel/manganese oxide or lithium iron phosphate, copper and aluminium foils, a polymer separator, an organic electrolyte that burns.

How It Works

Lithium ions shuttle between a graphite anode and a metal-oxide cathode through an electrolyte, slotting into the crystal lattices without breaking them — intercalation. Nothing is plated or dissolved, so it can do it thousands of times. Three volts and more per cell, and light.

Inventors

M. Stanley Whittingham Akira Yoshino John Goodenough

Equations

Ohm's Law Nernst Equation

Skills

Using a Multimeter

Elements

Lithium Carbon Cobalt Copper Manganese Nickel Aluminum

Referenced by

element

Aluminum Carbon Cobalt Copper Lithium Manganese Nickel

equation

Nernst Equation Ohm's Law

researcher

Akira Yoshino John Goodenough M. Stanley Whittingham

skill

Using a Multimeter

Open on the Machines shelf — the interactive card, the filters, and everything alongside it.

From the Machines database in Notion, last edited 2026-08-16. This page is the row, rendered by the build; nothing on it is written by hand.