Is "LiFePO4" the same as "Lithium Ion"?

[Little-Acorn]

I've heard of LiFePO4 batteries (Lithium-Iron-Phosphate), which have good power capacity and discharge rates, and are safe to use.

Also heard of LiPo (Lithium-Polymer), which also have good power and discharge, but tend to catch fire or otherwise go boom in the night.

Now I occasionally hear about "Lithium Ion" batteries. DeWalt drills, for example, use a "new" technology they call "Lithium Ion".

Is "Lithium Ion" another term for "LiFePO4"? Are they in fact the same thing?

 

[swbluto]

Lithium-ion basically refers to any type of battery that relies on a lithium's ions(i.e., any lithium battery). It's often used to refer to lithium cobalt batteries like those in laptops and cell phones, but it appears its usage is widening.

 

[rolf_w]

...Is "Lithium Ion" another term for "LiFePO4"? Are they in fact the same thing?

The (safety) problems with metallic Li used in rechargeable batteries led to the design of Li-Ion batteries, where the Li is inserted (intercalation) as ions in materials having a special 3 dimensional crystalline structure (e.g. spinel or olivines). These materials can 'soak up' quite some Li as these ions are small! The different names for cell chemistries are derived from the cathode material (e.g. LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiFePO4, ...) which is one of the two 'sponges' of the cell. Across the electrolyte is the other 'sponge', the anode which is frequently graphite in which Li inserts also nicely. Cells which use a solid polymer as electrolyte are often referred to as Li-Po or Li-ion poly cells.

 

[swbluto]

...Is "Lithium Ion" another term for "LiFePO4"? Are they in fact the same thing?

The (safety) problems with metallic Li used in rechargeable batteries led to the design of Li-Ion batteries

The rest of your reply is informative, but this particular part is misleading as it suggests that the "safe lithium" types are properly called "lithium ion" as opposed to the more dangerous variants. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery,

Lithium-ion batteries (sometimes abbreviated Li-ion batteries) are a type of rechargeable battery in which the cathode (positive electrode) contains lithium, and the anode (negative electrode)is made of a type of porous carbon.

Which is practically any lithium battery (as of recent).

 

[rolf_w]

... a type of rechargeable battery in which the cathode (positive electrode) contains lithium, and the anode (negative electrode) is made of a type of porous carbon.

Sorry, I didn't make it very clear: metallic Lithium as used in primary batteries is currently not an option for rechargeable (secondary) cells. The difficulties (google for 'dendrites' e.g. ) arising from using metallic Li cathodes in secondary batteries led to 'playing the intercalation trick' with Li ions. Metallic Li is very tricky as it grows dendrites during charge/discharge cycles and is thus potentially unsafe. Metallic Li would though allow for much simpler and denser cells (for recent developments google for rechargeable Li air cells e.g. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/11/kumar-20091121.html)! Of course not all Li ion cells are safe either, some chemistries are quite tricky too.

 

[v_tach]

I've heard of LiFePO4 batteries (Lithium-Iron-Phosphate), which have good power capacity and discharge rates, and are safe to use.

Also heard of LiPo (Lithium-Polymer), which also have good power and discharge, but tend to catch fire or otherwise go boom in the night.

Now I occasionally hear about "Lithium Ion" batteries. DeWalt drills, for example, use a "new" technology they call "Lithium Ion".

Is "Lithium Ion" another term for "LiFePO4"? Are they in fact the same thing?

I'm not sure you really got the answer you were looking for in the previous posts. The simple answer in layman's terms, Lithium-Ion is a general classification of which many different chemistries and construction types exist. LiFePO4 being a sort of sub-classification and more specific to it's actual chemistry. In other words, a LiFePO4 battery is a type of Lithium-Ion battery. Lithium-Polymer (LiPo) is another type of Lithium-Ion battery and is often the type associated with many of the spectacular failures that have been publicized by various outlets and videoed on YouTube.

To add to the confusion, many terms are used interchangeably and sometimes incorrectly leaving most consumers bewildered.