Effect of Current Rate and Prior Cycling on the Coulombic Efficiency of a Lithium-Ion Battery

The determination of coulombic efficiency of the lithium-ion batteries can contribute to comprehend better their degradation behavior. In this research, the coulombic efficiency and capacity loss of three lithium-ion batteries at different current rates (C) were investigated. Two new battery cells were discharged and charged at 0.4 C and 0.8 C for twenty times to monitor the variations in the aging and coulombic efficiency of the battery cell. In addition, prior cycling was applied to the third battery cell which consist of charging and discharging with 0.2 C, 0.4 C, 0.6 C, and 0.8 C current rates and each of them twenty times. The coulombic efficiency of the new battery cells was compared with the cycled one. The experiments demonstrated that approximately all the charge that was stored in the battery cell was extracted out of the battery cell, even at the bigger charging and discharging currents. The average capacity loss rates for discharge and charge during 0.8 C were approximately 0.44% and 0.45% per cycle, correspondingly.