High capacity lithium ion cells is Panasonic’s latest brainwave

The lithium ion technology is gaining impetus with the release of such batteries by a whole lot of companies. Panasonic is now working on its 3.1 Ah 18650 lithium ion cells. Panasonic’s newly acquired company, Sanyo, recently released the Eneloop Music Booster, a 9V lithium ion battery made for on-stage use. Panasonic has now planned to produce 3.4 Ah cells having a carbon anode unit in 2012 and 4.0 Ah cells the following year. The 4.0 Ah cell however, uses a new silicon-based alloy for an electrode. These cells will have nickel oxide positive electrodes that are commonly used.

Due to this, the energy density is popped up to 800 Wh/L as compared to the 620Wh/L of the 2.9 Ah cells available today. The capacity also increases from 10.4 Wh to 13.6 Wh. The cell voltage drops from 3.6 V to 3.4 V and gains weight from 44 to 54 g/cell. This may act as a drawback however. Panasonic is sure striving hard to make its lithium ion technology more widely applicable.
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