Why is lithium called the "Energy Star"?
Some people call lithium the "energy metal of the 21st century". Lithium is a combustible metal. When 1 gram of lithium reacts with oxygen, it releases 43.18 kJ of heat, which is 1.72 times that of aluminum. But this can at best be said that lithium is a "high-energy metal". Lithium's performance in the field of nuclear energy is the main reason for its reputation.
Nuclear fusion is the source of light and heat in stars, and it is also the reason why hydrogen bombs can release terrifying energy. However, to make nuclear fusion available to humans and achieve stable energy output under controlled conditions, rather than an instantaneous explosion, controlled nuclear fusion is necessary. At present, the fusion reactions of two isotopes of hydrogen - deuterium and tritium - are more mature and have a higher possibility of realization. Deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen, and the water containing deuterium are called heavy water, which can be extracted from seawater. Although the content of heavy water in seawater is not high, about 0.015%, but the total amount of seawater is huge, so the total amount of deuterium is still considerable. However, there is almost no natural tritium on Earth, and it is very difficult and expensive to produce it artificially. But this doesn't mean that nuclear fusion is out of reach. Scientists have found that after an atom of lithium isotope is bombarded by a neutron, it will undergo a fission reaction and turn into a tritium atom and a helium atom. Since lithium can be obtained from many lithium-containing minerals in nature, the material basis for nuclear fusion reactions has been formed. In fact, hydrogen bombs also use deuterium-lithium as fuel to achieve their "instantaneous brilliance".
Of course, unlike hydrogen bombs, controlled nuclear fusion still has many difficulties that cannot be solved and is far from reaching the stage of practical application. However, another product of lithium is actually providing us with powerful energy support - lithium batteries.
As the name suggests, lithium batteries are batteries containing lithium, which can be broadly divided into two categories: lithium metal batteries and lithium-ion batteries. Lithium metal batteries are usually non-rechargeable and belong to primary batteries; while lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable and belong to secondary batteries. In devices such as pacemakers, it is often necessary to use batteries with small size, high energy and long single-use life. Lithium metal batteries, as a high-energy chemical battery, precisely have these characteristics. In more cases, people need rechargeable secondary batteries, such as mobile phones, laptops, cameras, digital cameras. Compared with other rechargeable batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of light weight, small size, high working voltage, long life, low self-discharge rate and fast charging and discharging, so they have become the first choice for many electronic products. In addition, lithium-ion batteries have a unique advantage: no memory effect. There is no need to consider whether the battery is fully discharged before charging, and it can be charged at any time.
In addition, since lithium is the lightest metal with a very low density, lithium atoms are the smallest metal atoms. Metal lithium can be made into ultra-light aluminum-lithium alloys and magnesium-lithium alloys with aluminum and magnesium. Compared with ordinary alloys, while maintaining comparable strength, ultra-light alloys can effectively reduce density. Lighter materials not only mean faster flight speed and greater carrying capacity for the aerospace industry, but also can save a lot of energy.
So, don't look down on lithium's "small size", it's a "big star" in the energy field!