After a series of experiments, scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory were convinced that the degradation of lithium-containing batteries can be corrected. In practice, this will mean that lithium batteries will get an extended service life without losing capacity, which is what every electric car owner and not only dream about.
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One of the reasons for the loss of capacity of lithium batteries is the formation of islands of inactive lithium in batteries. Lithium ions in such clusters do not reach the battery electrodes during both charging and discharging. Thus, lithium bunches cease to participate in the battery operation process, and the battery loses its capacity, the further, the more.
Scientists suggested that special modes of charging and discharging currents can shift inactive lithium towards one or the other electrode and turn it back into the battery's working process. To make sure of this possibility, a "transparent" battery was created and carefully studied for the movement and distribution of lithium during different charge and discharge modes. The word "transparent" should not be taken literally. Today, there are enough tools to study the internal structure of something, for example, using X-ray radiation sources.
Observing the structure of a lithium battery in real time showed that islands of inactive lithium are still shifted to one electrode, then to another, depending on whether there is a charge or a discharge, but this movement is extremely small - we are talking about nanometers. This does not allow the expectation of a recovery of the battery capacity when using normal charging and discharging modes. To return inactive lithium to the game, "shock" current modes are required.
Indeed, a sharp and strong jump in the current in the load immediately after the battery was fully charged returned inactive lithium to the anode and retained the capacity of the battery (in no case should this be repeated at home). Researchers estimate that the correct selection of charging modes can increase the life of lithium batteries by 30%. To do this, it is enough to modify the chargers. The batteries themselves do not need to be altered.
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