Is Lithium-ion the best battery?
For several years, nickel-cadmium batteries had been the only suitable battery for portable equipment from wireless communications to mobile computing. Nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion emerged in the early 1990s, fighting nose-to-nose to gain customer’s acceptance.
Today, lithium-ion is the fastest growing and most promising battery chemistry. The energy density of lithium-ion is typically twice that of the standard nickel-cadmium. There is potential for higher energy densities. The load characteristics are reasonably good and behave similarly to nickel-cadmium in terms of discharge. The high cell voltage of 3.6 volts allows battery pack designs with only one cell.
Most of today’s mobile phones run on a single cell. A nickel-based pack would require three 1.2-volt cells connected in series.