Impact of Vibration on the Surface Film of Lithium-Ion Cells

Cylindrical 18650-type lithium-ion cells are being utilized more often for automotive applications. This introduces error in calculating expected lifetime due to varied usage conditions accelerating or reducing material damage. One such usage condition is vibration, which has been shown to impact the electrical performance over extended periods. Within this study X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been performed on nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells subjected to vibration. This study found that vibration causes the removal of the selectively-formed surface film created during a cell’s first cycles and replaces it with the surface film from electrolyte decomposition. The surface films formed by vibration are composed of much higher concentrations of organic electrolyte decomposition products than the film from the control cell. The impact of this chemical mechanism is an increased level of cell degradation. This is exhibited in increased capacity fade and cell impedance. This is the first study presented within the academic literature which has identified an electro-mechanical mechanism responsible for the performance degradation in lithium-ion cells from vibration.