Designations defining the chemistry of lithium cells
Markings defining the chemistry of batteries are of great importance not only for producers, but also for users, because they determine such differences between the cells that make up them, such as: safety, capacity, maximum discharge current, number of charging cycles, etc. For example, ICR batteries (based on cobalt ) have both high discharge current and high capacity, but do not offer much safety. On the other hand, IMR (based on manganese) are safer, but at the cost of lower capacity. Below we present abbreviations, and explanations of individual chemical technologies are presented in another post.
| Long name | Chemical abbreviation | Format abbreviation 1 | Format abbreviation 2 | Format abbreviation 3 |
| Lithium manganese oxide | LiMn2O4 | IMR | LMO | Li-manganese |
| Lithium manganese nickel | LiNiMnCoO2 | INR | NMC | --- |
| Lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide | LiNiCoAlO2 | --- | NCA | Li-aluminum |
| Lithium nickel cobalt oxide | LiNiCoO2 | --- | NCO | --- |
| Lithium cobalt oxide | LiCoO2 | ICR | LCO | Li-cobalt |
| Lithium iron phosphate | LiFePO4 | IFR | LFP | Li-phosphate |
How to charge such different types of chemical cells?
It is also worth knowing that different chemical composition will also require different charging methods, so you should have a specific charger designed for a given cell chemistry. For this reason, there are few chargers that support many of these chemical cell types. For an affordable price, however, we can buy such a charger on AliExpress:
Link to this charger on AliExpress
However, if we want a charger that would not only be able to handle different chemical types of cells, but also very different cell sizes, then we need a charger like this:
LINK TO THIS UNIVERSAL CHARGER ON ALIEPRESS
Warning to buyers of these cells:
You can easily cut yourself on low-quality cells, of which there are a lot and are often sold second-hand, so it is important to buy proven ones and do not save on it. If we want good cells for a reasonable price, it is worth trying an inexpensive manufacturer on Aliexpress, whose 18650 cells should be of good quality:
Link to this product (18650) on AliExpress
And similarly, 26650 cells from the same manufacturer:
