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About 3v Lithium Battery
3v lithium batteries are among the most common power sources used for all kinds of portable consumer electronic devices today, such as PDAs (i.e. smartphones), camcorders and digital cameras, digital and analog watches, calculators, electric thermometers, laptops (in BIOS), toys, communication and some medical equipment etc. As its name suggests, the 3v Lithium Battery belongs to the lithium battery family. So we need to know basic knowledge about lithium batteries before we can know the 3v lithium battery better.
Lithium batteries
These cells are actually non-rechargeable galvanic (primary/disposable) batteries inside which lithium metal or lithium compounds are used as the anode. Like other alkali metals, lithium is very reactive and also flammable. Lithium metal can easily react with water and the reaction produces hydrogen and lithium hydroxide in aqueous solution. In the natural world, lithium never appears in simple metal but in compounds, usually ionic. And so, the lithium in these disposable batteries is completely sealed to avoid a violent reaction. Lithium has a melting point of 357°F (about 181°C) which is very low among all metals.
The Lithium battery family consists of different (battery) types in terms of designs and chemistries used in a combination of different cathodes and electrolytes. These cells can supply a voltage of 1.5v to about 3.7 v, which is over twice the voltage of an ordinary zinc–carbon battery or alkaline battery. In consume application areas, the most commonly used lithium batteries have an anode of metallic lithium and a cathode of manganese, both soaked in a salt of lithium that is dissolved in an organic solvent. As a comparison, in commercial/industrial applications, another type of energy-dense lithium cell is found more useful – it is the lithium-thionyl chloride cell. Inside this cell, the liquid mixture consists of both thionyl chloride (SOCl2) and lithium tetrachloroaluminate (LiAlCl4) with SOCl2 as the electrolyte and LiAlCl4 as the cathode. At the same time, a cathode current collector of porous carbon material gets electrons from the external circuit. Lithium-thionyl chloride batteries are good for extremely low-current uses where long life is necessary, such as wireless alarm systems. After we understand the basic principles of lithium batteries as a whole, we can talk about 3v lithium battery in detail now.
3v Lithium Battery – this is the lead role of this article, and also the mostly used battery as a consumer class battery. According to some reliable sources, this cell accounts for 80% of the lithium battery market. The 3v lithium battery uses heat-treated manganese dioxide as the Cathode and lithium perchlorate in propylene carbonate and dimethoxyethane as the Electrolyte. Its chemistry (battery type) is Li-MnO2 (Li-Mn, "CR"). It has a Gravimetric Energy Density (Specific Energy) of 280 Wh/kg (Watt hours per kilogram) and Volumetric Energy Density of 580 Wh/dm3 (Watt hours per cubic decimeter). And these numbers are very high compared with other common battery types in our everyday life. Below is a comparison chart of the Gravimetric Energy Density for some typical consumer grade batteries:
In the chart, NiMH stands for the Nickel-metal hydride battery, which is often used for portable electronic devices, flashlights etc. Li-ion stands for the lithium-ion battery, a family of rechargeable battery types in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode during discharge, and back when charging. Please don’t mix the lithium battery and lithium-ion battery, as you can see from the above description of their operational principles, they are totally different. Alkaline batteries normally find their places in portable electronic devices, flashlights etc. As to the Lead acid battery, everyone knows it, a very old type.
The other advantages this 3v Lithium Battery has include the uses of cheap materials, a good fit for low-drain, long-life, low-cost applications, capability of high pulse current delivery, tolerance of wide temperature range (maximum temperature limit up to about 60 °C) and so on. However, there some issues with this type of battery like high self-discharge at high temperatures, both the rise of the internal impedance and decrease of the terminal voltage with discharge. At this point, it is easy to see the reason that this 3v Lithium Battery is the star of all kinds of primary batteries. At last but not least, please enjoy the 3v Lithium Battery pictures of different models and brands in this article.