Patent ID: 8901892

Claim:
A method of charging an electrochemical cell comprising a host material, the method comprising the steps of: characterizing the state of health of the electrochemical cell; selecting a charging voltage, current or voltage and current according to the characterized state of health of the electrochemical cell; and providing the selected voltage, current or voltage and current to electrodes of the electrochemical cell to charge the electrochemical cell wherein the step of characterizing the state of health of the electrochemical cell comprises the steps of: determining a change in Gibbs Free Energy (ΔG), a change in Entropy (ΔS), a change in Enthalpy (ΔH) or any combination thereof of the electrochemical cell for a plurality of selected electrochemical cell compositions; determining states of charge of the electrochemical cell for each of the plurality of selected electrochemical cell compositions; identifying the states of charge and ΔG, ΔS, ΔH or any combination thereof corresponding to an event or condition of the electrochemical cell; and comparing the ΔG, ΔS, ΔH or any combination thereof corresponding to the event or condition of the electrochemical cell to reference ΔG, ΔS, ΔH or any combination thereof corresponding to the event or condition of a reference electrochemical cell.