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Article: Lithium-ion batteries charge ahead; Lithium-ion batteries prove good things come in small and large packages.(Special Report)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- ECN-Electronic Component News
- Article date:
- January 1, 2004
- Author:
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Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries came out of the lab in the early 1990s and reached commercial production soon thereafter. In general, cells based on Li-ion chemistry produce about three times the voltage of a NiCd (nickel cadmium) or a NiMH (nickel metal-hydride) cell, and they just about double the energy output from similar-size NiCd batteries. Cell capacities standard for Li-ion batteries now reach about 2,200 mA-h, so it is easy to sell designers on them as power sources for portable equipment.
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Li-ion batteries offer an obvious benefit over NiMH and NiCd devices--their light weight and high energy density (Figure 1). Li-ion ...