Lithium-ion battery

A lithium-ion battery (sometimes Li-ion battery) is a type of rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode during discharge, and reversely when charged. During discharge the negative electrode is the anode where oxidation takes place and during charge it turns into the cathode where reduction takes place. This functional meaning of the words anode and cathode is however widely ignored in the slang of battery-specialists: "anode" means negative electrode and "cathode" means positive electrode, and this somewhat abusive practice is followed in the present article. Different types of lithium-ion batteries use different chemistry and have different performance, cost, and safety characteristics. Unlike primary lithium batteries, lithium-ion cells use an intercalated lithium compound as the electrode material instead of metallic lithium.