1. Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO)
Cathode material: Lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂)
Characteristics: High energy density, high voltage plateau, and excellent charge/discharge performance. However, it features high cost, relatively short cycle life, poor thermal stability (relatively low safety), limited cobalt resources, and significant price volatility.
Applications: Small batteries for consumer electronics (mobile phones, laptops, tablets, digital cameras, etc.).
2. Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO)
Cathode Material: Lithium manganese oxide (LiMn₂O₄).
Features: Low cost, good safety, decent low-temperature performance, and environmental friendliness (abundant manganese resources). However, it has lower energy density (below LCO and NCM/NCA), average cycle life, and poor high-temperature cycling performance (manganese is prone to dissolution).
Applications: Power tools, e-bikes, low-speed electric vehicles, select PHEVs/BEVs (often blended), cost-sensitive energy storage.
3. Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)
Battery Cathode Material: Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄).
Features: Exceptionally high safety (superior thermal stability), extremely long cycle life (thousands to tens of thousands of cycles), relatively low cost (abundant iron and phosphorus resources), environmentally friendly, stable voltage platform. However, it has relatively low energy density (below LCO and NCM/NCA), poor low-temperature performance, and a lower voltage platform (~3.2V).
Applications: Electric vehicles (especially safety/cost-sensitive models), electric buses, energy storage facilities (grid/commercial/residential storage), electric vessels, and power tools.
4. Ternary Lithium Batteries (NCM/NCA)
Cathode Materials: Lithium Nickel Cobalt Manganese Oxide (LiNiₓCoᵧMnzO₂, NCM) or Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (LiNiₓCoᵧAlzO₂, NCA). Commonly denoted by nickel-cobalt-manganese/aluminum ratios, such as NCM523, NCM622, NCM811, NCA.
Features: High energy density (especially high-nickel variants), relatively high voltage plateau (~3.6-3.7V), and balanced overall performance (energy, power, cycling). However, they are costly (due to cobalt content), have slightly lower safety than LFP (especially high-nickel variants), and typically exhibit shorter cycle life than LFP.
Applications: High-end consumer electronics, power tools.
