Effects of Nonuniform Temperature Distribution on Degradation of Lithium-Ion Batteries

The effects of nonuniform temperature distribution on the degradation of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are investigated in this study. A Li-ion battery stack consisting of five 3 Ah pouch cells connected in parallel was tested for 2215 cycles and compared with a single baseline cell. The behaviors of temperature distribution, degradation, and current distribution of the stack were characterized and discussed. Results supported the hypothesis that nonuniform temperature distribution causes nonuniform and accelerated degradation. All cells in the stack experienced higher temperature rise and degraded faster than the baseline cell. In particular, capacity retention of the middle cell in the stack decreased to 50.7% after 2215 cycles, while the baseline cell capacity retention was still 87.8%. The resistance of cells in the stack experienced nonuniform but similar pattern of variation with cycling. The resistances remained stable in early cycles, then experienced a rapid increase, and then became stable again. The middle cell resistance increased abruptly in the last 20 cycles before failure. Current distribution behaviors of the stack also changed significantly during cycling, which was consistent with cell resistance behaviors. The middle cell experienced much higher C rate than average, suggesting that its accelerated degradation can be attributed to the synergized effects of higher local temperature and higher local current.