Influence of low temperature conditions on lithium-ion batteries and the application of an insulation material

In the current work, a series of experiments were carried out under low and normal temperature conditions (0 and 20 °C) to research the influence of low temperature on the performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Besides this, a commercial insulation material (IM) was employed to research its effect on preventing damage in a battery exposed to low temperature. Based on the experimental results, it was found that the battery exhibited a higher temperature increase at low ambient temperature due to the larger internal resistance of the battery at low temperature, which resulted in greater heat generation. It was also observed that the low temperature caused the uniformity of the battery to deteriorate as a result of temperature and voltage differences, and the uniformity became poorer with increasing cycle rate. Moreover, the capacity decay rate of the battery was demonstrated to be greatly accelerated by the low temperature. According to the morphological changes of the battery components, the structure of the electrode materials and separator was damaged under low temperature conditions. Finally, the results show that the IM had a significant effect on warming the battery up; therefore, a much better discharge performance and slower decay rate of the battery were achieved. Furthermore, the performance of the IM was found to be related to its thickness.