Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted great attention as the common power source in energy storage fields of large-scale applications such as electrical vehicles (EVs), industries, power plants, and grid-scale energy storage systems (ESSs). Insertion, alloying, and conversion reactions are the main electrochemical energy storage mechanisms in LIBs, which determine their electrochemical properties and performances. The electrochemical reaction mechanisms are determined by several factors including crystal structure, components, and composition of electrode materials. This article reviews a new strategy to compensate for the intrinsic shortcomings of each reaction mechanism by introducing the material systems to form a single compound with different types of reaction mechanisms and to allow the simultaneous hybrid electrochemical reaction of two different mechanisms in a single solid solution phase.

In this study, an induction heating system using resonance is developed to remove remaining moisture and contaminations which could be generated during fabricating secondary batteries. This system is composed of power supply and induction coil. Power supply needs an oscillator, zero crossing detection, frequency tracking function, and induction coil needs a dummy coil to obtain a uniform temperature distribution. It is very important to obtain a uniform heating temperature distribution of battery cell case in the induction heating system before pouring electrolyte into battery cell. Experimental results show a temperature distribution deviation of below 1℃ in the external position of battery cell cases. As well, the temperature of battery cell itself shows distribution of 40℃±3℃.

High-capacity secondary batteries can cause explosion hazards owing to microcurrent variations or current surges that occur in short circuits. Consequently, complete safety cannot be achieved with general protection that is limited to a mere current fuse. Hence, in the case of secondary batteries, it is necessary for the protector to limit the inrush current in a short circuit, and to detect the current during microcurrent variations. To serve this purpose, a fuse can be employed for the secondary battery protection circuit with current detection. This study aims at designing a protection device that can stably operate in the hazardous circumstances associated with high-capacity secondary batteries. To achieve the said
objective
, a detecting fuse was designed from an alloy of low melting point elements for securing stability in abnormal current states. Experimental results show that the operating I-T and V-T characteristic constraints can be satisfied by employing the proposed current detecting self-contained low melting point fuse, and through the resistance of the heating resistor. These results thus verify that the proposed protection device can prevent the hazards of short circuit current surges and microcurrent variations of secondary batteries.