What’s the difference between Lithium Ion & Lithium Polymer

(Last Updated On: January 17, 2023)

Lithium Ion L Polymer

There are two main battery types that you’ve probably heard of. One being Lithium Polymer and the other being Lithium Ion. Many devices use either, but what’s the difference between the two battery types, and should you really care what battery your device has?

Lithium Polymer

Lithium Polymer is the more flexible battery type, meaning that it can be more versatile with how it’s designed and packaged. The main reason it’s called Polymer is that the package that the battery is encased in is made up of Polymer. However, the battery is a liquid/gel type of substance that makes it easy to be packaged into battery packs.

This is sometimes why Lithium Polymer is such a favorable choice for some companies to use it. If the battery can be versatile in design, then the product can be designed more freely. This can lead to more flat designs with a product because the battery can be spread out or packed in one place by choice.

Lithium Polmer EN

By doing so, a product can be what the creator had in mind. Lithium Polymer batteries can be lightweight due to their liquid gel form and how they can be placed in a spread-out manner. Polymer batteries, being a gel, can produce gas while it’s charging, so manufacturers should make the design to allow for the expansion of the battery, so if the battery does expand, nothing will get damaged.

Lithium Polymer batteries can be more costly to produce due to their versatility by design, and their energy density is not as good as Lithium Ion, which means that their battery level will decline quite quickly when used.

Lithium Polymer batteries can mainly be used for designing a product that is meant to be quite slim or have a design that is not traditional. This way, the manufacturer can make their product the way they envisioned. If the product doesn’t need a unique design, then Lithium Ion will be used.

Apple MacBook Pro 15″ 5600mAh Li-po Battery                             

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A great example of where Lithium Polymer batteries are used in MacBooks. MacBooks tend to be very slim; then the batteries also have to be thin. Companies take advantage of producing Lithium Polymer and Lithium Ion batteries because both tend to degrade, and they know some people prefer one over the other.

Lithium Ion

Lithium Ion batteries are the most commonly used type of batteries that is in many electronics. Ion batteries are the opposite of Lithium Polymer batteries in their design. Lithium Ion batteries are densely packed together, and the end product is a rectangular battery pack.

Ion batteries have high density and low discharge energy, and they are used a lot since they can last longer when a device is in use.

Lithium Ion

However, the main flaw with Lithium Ion batteries is the degradation of the battery even when the battery is not in use. Lithium ions can also be damaged depending on their environment, especially in high temperatures. Lithium Ion batteries can be damaged quite heavily.

Ion batteries are popular and will continue to be used for a long time because they are simple to make and can last a long time in the short term; even though the long-term quality of the battery degrades, improvements are being made to make Ion batteries better.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Lithium Ion Battery

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Lithium Ion is commonly used with many laptops and phones because it can be compressed quite a lot, and if needed, the owner of the battery can more easily replace it. Lithium Ion batteries are more squared shape shaped and are completely solid since the small Lithium Ion packs are tightly compressed into the casing. It’s common for companies to sell phone replacement batteries because Lithium Ion batteries can degrade over time and may need replacement because the battery is too damaged to make a long enough battery life.

Conclusion:

Lithium Polymer and Lithium Ion are not precisely different types of batteries; they’re more different types of designed batteries. They function similarly, but the way they come to be are different and what kinds of devices they are inputted into are the only difference between the batteries.

You shouldn’t worry about your devices having either one since both are the same; However, Lithium Ion is still dominating, so there isn’t any logical sense to using Polymer instead.

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