History

Gilbert Newton Lewis, an American physical chemist, first began experimenting with lithium batteries in 1912. It was not until the 1970s that the first lithium batteries made it to the market. In the 1980s, the United States, Morocco, and Japan made advancements in the lithium battery, leading to the first lithium-ion battery prototype in 1985. The lithium-ion prototype was a more stable and rechargeable version of the lithium battery. By 1991, Sony had commercialized the lithium-ion battery.

The lithium polymer battery was released in 1997 by Sony and Asahi Kasei. These batteries hold their electrolyte in a solid polymer composite instead of in a liquid solvent, and the electrodes and separators are laminated to each other. By laminating the electrodes and separators next to each other, the battery is able to be encased in a flexible wrapping instead of a rigid metal casing, which means this type of battery can be specifically shaped to fit a particular device. This advantage made the lithium polymer battery an ideal choice for the use of certain portable electronic devices (PED), including the following:

• Mobile phones
• Personal digital assistants
• Radio-controlled aircraft