| abstract |
A lithium ion battery includes an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte between the two. When the battery is in its initial charged state, as it is upon exiting the manufacturing process, the anode is composed of a first portion of lithium-deficient electrode material, and a second portion of lithium-rich or lithium-intercalated material coated on at least a part of the surface of the first portion. And the cathode is composed of lithium-deficient material adapted to react reversibly with lithium ions from the lithium-rich second portion of the anode during subsequent discharge of the battery from its initial charged state as the second portion becomes fully consumed. During each subsequent charge-discharge reaction cycle, free lithium ions from the cathode are inserted into the lattice structure of the solely remaining first portion of the anode to render it lithium-rich in the charged state, without plating lithium metal onto the anode, and lithium ions from the anode are re-inserted into the lattice structure of the cathode to render it lithium-rich in the discharged state. Methods of manufacture are described. |