A lithium battery is a type of battery made of lithium metal or lithium alloy as a positive/negative electrode material, using a non-aqueous electrolyte solution. In 1912, lithium-metal batteries were first proposed and studied by Gilbert N. Lewis. In the 1970s, M. S. Whittingham proposed and began to study lithium-ion batteries. Because the chemical properties of lithium metal are very active, the processing, preservation and use of lithium metal have very high environmental requirements. With the development of science and technology, lithium batteries have become the mainstream.
Lithium batteries can be roughly divided into two categories: lithium metal batteries and lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries do not contain metallic lithium and are rechargeable. The fifth generation of rechargeable batteries, lithium metal batteries, was born in 1996, and its safety, specific capacity, self-discharge rate and performance-price ratio are better than lithium-ion batteries. Due to its own high technical requirements, only a few companies in the country are producing this lithium metal battery.