Electrical Engineering Glossary Definition for Lithium-ion batteries

Definition

Lithium and lithium-ion: A number of battery chemistries are based on the element lithium, a highly-reactive metallic element. Lithium-based batteries are common in two applications: Power for portable equipment such as cell phones, laptops, and MP3 players; and low-power, long-life applications such as powering memory elements and clocks.

Lithium-ion (Li+, Li-Ion, Lion) cells are generally used as power sources for portable equipment. They are usually rechargeable. Lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) have displaced nickel-cadmium (NiCd or nicad) as the dominant rechargeable chemistry for portable applications. Maxim/Dallas makes a wide range of battery management products for all these families, including chargers, fuel gauges, and smart battery components.

Lithium batteries (see link below for details) are typically coin-shaped and are used to power items such as Dallas Semiconductor's non-volatile static RAM (NV SRAM) and timekeeping circuits (such as real-time clocks).

Synonyms

• Lithium-Ion
• Lithium Ion
• Li-Ion
• Lion
• Li+

See Also

• Lithium batteries
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