Experimental Study of the Degradation Characteristics of LiFePO4 and LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 Batteries during Overcharging at Low Temperatures

Abstract

Battery overcharging can occur due to capacity and internal resistance variations among cells or battery management system failure that both accelerate battery degradation, which is more likely at low temperatures because of the large polarization effect. This study experimentally investigated the battery degradation characteristics during charging of LiFePO4 (LFP)/Graphite batteries at voltages of 3.65–4.8 V and Li(Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3)O2 (NCM)/Graphite batteries at 4.2–4.8 V at −10 °C with currents of 0.2–1 C. The results showed that the LFP cell capacities decreased linearly with an increasing number of cycles, while the NCM cell capacities faded in three trends with an increasing number of cycles under different conditions with linear fading, accelerated fading, and decelerated fading. The incremental capacity curves and differential voltage curves showed that the LFP cell degradation was mainly caused by the loss of lithium inventory (LLI), with some effect from the loss of active material (LAM). In the NCM cells, both the LLI and LAM significantly contributed to the degradation. Combined with internal battery morphology observations, the LAM mainly occurred at the anode, and the main side reactions leading to the LLI with lithium plating and solid electrolyte interface growth also occurred at the anode.