What is the Difference Between Magnesium and Lithium Batteries?
Lithium battery is a kind of battery that uses lithium metal or lithium alloy as anode material and uses non-aqueous electrolyte solution. Due to the chemical properties of lithium metal is very active, the processing, preservation and use of lithium metal has high environmental requirements. Lithium batteries can be broadly divided into two categories: lithium metal batteries and lithium ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries do not contain lithium metal and can be recharged.
Magnesium battery is a primary battery with magnesium as the negative electrode and some metal or non-metal oxide as the positive electrode. In the existing varieties, there are ready to discharge the magnesium-manganese dry cell, similar to the ordinary zinc-manganese dry cell; there can be stored in a dry state for a long time, when the use of water to activate the battery can be used immediately.
The structure of magnesium-manganese dry cell is similar to the structure of cardboard zinc-manganese battery. The positive manganese dioxide bamboo charcoal package has basically the same composition and ratio, and the negative electrode is a magnesium cylinder. Magnesium batteries are very high energy, energy density units to 800 watt hours / kg. 1 kg of new batteries is 30 times the lead-acid batteries for cars. Magnesium battery storage life can reach more than 10 years, and can be used temporarily in any occasion by adding water or seawater, and can be used within half an hour after activation. Its working voltage is very stable and its service life is generally 0.5-24 hours. Lithium batteries can only be out of reach.
Compared with lithium, magnesium has many advantages. For example, the melting point of lithium is about 180 degrees Celsius, while the melting point of magnesium is up to about 650 degrees Celsius, so it is safer and magnesium reserves are more abundant than lithium. However, the development of magnesium batteries also faces some technical difficulties. For example, no suitable anode material has been found before, and there is a lack of stable charging and discharging.