History of Lithium Ion BatteriesThe evolution of rechargeable batteries accelerated as the world transitioned to tools enabled by silicon microchip technology from those of bulky electrical components . Mobile devices were designed to be powered by lightweight energy storage systems. Developing batteries for this rapidly evolving market has been challenging: • The nickel-cadmium battery was the only option for modern electronics for many years. This was a big improvement over carbon batteries. • Later, nickel hydride batteries became the preferred technology. • Lithium-ion batteries became available in the 1990s, offering higher energy densities. This technology prevailed over nickel hydride. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery offered previously unavailable advantages: • Lithium is the lightest of all metals • It had the greatest electrochemical potential • It provided the greatest energy content per unit volume • It had no memory effect • The rate of energy loss was less than half that of NiCd and NiMH batteries• The first of this type was developed by Sony in 1990 with sufficient cycles to be usable for rechargeable batteries. Mass production took place in 1991, or Panasonic and Sanyo quickly developed similar batteries that were on the market in 1994. Major advances in a mature industry like batteries were hard to find. Advances in the field have only focused on finding slightly better materials or thinning the layers to improve performance. Pre-A123 Systems: History of Lithium-Ion Battery Innovation Pre-A123 Research Group Professor Yet-Ming Chiang led a medium-sized research group at MIT that focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of materials advanced inorganic; in particular towards electromechanically and electrochemically active materials. These materials can be defined as capable of converting electrical energy into mechanical work and converting chemical energy into electrical work. Chiang's group began researching better lithium cathode materials in the mid-1990s. In early 2000, the team began to wonder whether there might be a new way to overcome the thickness limitations of battery cells. They wondered whether the battery layers could form based on the Hamaker constant for different materials. The materials in this case are very small particles. The Hamaker constant is the measure of force between materials. The Hamaker constant applied to the design of an innovative battery system Chiang describes how this relates to the challenge of revolutionizing battery technology: • “… the Hamaker constant can have a negative value and cause two materials (particles) to repel if immersed in the right medium... we discovered and designed systems of materials that organized themselves into an electrolytic separator between anode and cathode.