Lithium Plating Detection and Quantification in Li-Ion Cells from Degradation Behaviors

Lithium plating has huge impact on the lifetime and safety of lithium-ion cells, thus sensitive and readily accessible methods to detect lithium plating is of high interest. This study conducted two sets of cycling tests of lithium-ion cells, one examined 7 stresses and 3 levels using design of experiment (DOE) L18(2×37), the other examined 3 stresses and 3 levels using DOE L27(313). Three lithium plating detection methods are proposed: resistance-capacity(R-Q) plot method, Arrhenius method and capacity fade rate method. The cells were disassembled, selectively titrated, and the amount of plated lithium was measured with inductively coupled plasma(ICP). ICP results corroborates the results of the R-Q plot methods and the three proposed methods are consistent with each other. The methods developed in this study only need the electric quantities which can be readily measured without dissembling the cell.