Lithium-ion batteries
What are Lithium-ion batteries?
Definition
Lithium and lithium-ion: A number of battery chemistries are based on the element lithium, a highly-reactive metallic element. Lithium-based batteries are common in two applications: Power for portable equipment such as cell phones, laptops, and MP3 players; and low-power, long-life applications such as powering memory elements and clocks.
Lithium-ion (Li+, Li-Ion, Lion) cells are generally used as power sources for portable equipment. They are usually rechargeable. Lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) have displaced nickel-cadmium (NiCd or nicad) as the dominant rechargeable chemistry for portable applications. Analog Devices makes a wide range of battery management products for all these families, including chargers, fuel gauges, and smart battery components.
Lithium batteries are typically coin-shaped and are used to power items such as non-volatile static RAM (NV SRAM) and timekeeping circuits (such as real-time clocks).