Lithium/carbon monofluoride (Li/CFx): A new pacemaker battery

The reduction in pacemaker size coupled with the addition of more current demanding functions has motivated the development of batteries that can supply higher current densities at useful voltages than the lithium/iodine batteries in use today while retaining the volumetric energy density of that system. The lithium/CFx system offers an attractive alternative for advanced pacemaker systems. The battery can deliver currents in the milliampere range without significant voltage drop. The system is compatible with titanium casing, allowing a 50% reduction in weight over the same size lithium/iodine battery. Cells have been designed and tested in these laboratories and have been shown to be suitable for advanced pacemaker applications.