ABSTRACT
Batteries are the major power sources for portable electronic devices as well as for automobile starting and ignition. Th e worldwide battery market is currently worth over $40 billion. Batteries are also intensively pursued for a widespread hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications to address the growing environmental concerns and increasing global energy demands. Moreover, batteries are critical as energy storage devices for eff ectively utilizing solar and wind energies, which are intermittent in nature. Th e performance factors of batteries are linked to the materials used as well as the engineering involved in fabricating them. Th is chapter, aft er providing a brief background to the electrochemical concepts involved in batteries, focuses on the materials aspects of high energy density (lithium ion) batteries.
