Combining a Fatigue Model and an Incremental Capacity Analysis on a Commercial NMC/Graphite Cell under Constant Current Cycling with and without Calendar Aging

Abstract

Reliable development of LIBs requires that they be correlated with accurate aging studies. The present project focuses on the implementation of a weighted ampere-hour throughput model, taking into account the operating parameters, and modulating the impact of an exchanged ampere-hour by the well-established three major stress factors: temperature, current intensity (rated), and state of charge (SoC). This model can drift with time due to repeated solicitation, so its parameters need to be updated by on-field measurements, in order to remain accurate. These on-field measurements are submitted to the so-called Incremental Capacity Analysis method (ICA), consisting in the analysis of dQ/dV as a function of V. It is a direct indicator of the state of health of the cell, as the experimental peaks are related to the active material chemical/structural evolution, such as phase transitions and recorded potential plateaus during charging/discharging. It is here applied to NMC/graphite based commercial cells. These peaks’ evolution can be correlated with the here-defined Ah-kinetic and t-kinetic aging, which are chemistry-dependent, and therefore, has to be adjusted to the different types of cells.