This article appeared in the June 2021 issue of Discover magazine as "Looking Into Lithium Ion Batteries." Subscribe for more stories like these.
Lithium-ion batteries: They’re in almost every phone and laptop, they’re powering zero-emission transportation, and they’re making it easier to transition to wind and solar energy. Let’s demystify how these ubiquitous black boxes store energy — and why they can’t last forever.
Every battery has two core parts, an oxide electrode and a graphite electrode. The two electrodes are arranged in symmetrical, layered crystals. You can think of each as a Jenga tower whose stability comes from crisscrossing blocks. Rather than wood blocks, every other layer in the graphite electrode tower would be graphite; in the oxide electrode tower, it would be metal oxide. The remaining blocks would be ions of a soft metal called lithium, one of earth’s most widespread elements.
In a lithium-ion battery, these ions ...
