The latest lithium ion battery from Stanford researchers. Lithium ion batteries, like those found in Hoverboards, are notorious for overheating and exploding or catching fire – as seen on recent exposes and product recalls. Stanford has developed a lithium battery that automatically shuts off when it’s overheated to prevent fires. (via Mark Shwartz/Zeng Chen/Zhenan Bao/Yi Cui/Youtube)
Finally! Researchers at Stanford have solved a problem that has been plaguing companies for years. They have created a lithium ion battery that won’t overheat, which can lead to fires and explosions – like those Hoverboards trending on Youtube. While more and more of our devices become portable and Internet enabled, more of them require the use of lithium ion batteries with larger capacities.
Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford, Zhenan Bao, says that the trend in larger capacity lithium ion batteries presents the inherent greater danger of overheating and catching fire. Hence, herself and a team of researchers at Stanford set out to solve the problem using the simple power of Nickel ions. Their new lithium ion battery contains a polymer with Nickel ions that will turn the battery off when it overheats, and turn back on when the battery is back to a functional temperature. Their findings are published in the latest January issue of Nature Energy.
Typical lithium batteries have two electrodes with a conducting liquid or gel electrolyte which allows energy to flow, but recent fire prevention efforts have mostly focused on adding flame retardants to the electrolytes. Needless to say, this current method is ineffective. If the battery reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit it will catch fire and explode. For this reason, products using lithium batteries have often be forced to recall, or have been banned by safety testers who indicate that they are a hazard to public safety.
The research team’s new battery uses nanotechnology and a thin polymer film as a smart battery that shuts itself off. The invention uses a recent invention from Bao, which is a wearable body temperature sensor using nanoparticles of nickel on a polymer. For the battery, they coated nickel particles with graphene and embedded them within a polyethylene film that is elastic and malleable. Finally, they attached battery electrodes to each side so that an electric current could pass through the nickel/graphene polymer. However, materials science saves the day.
In order to conduct electricity, the nickel particles need to be touching, but they only touch when they are below 160 F: meaning that if the battery heats up above this level, the particles will expand and stop conducting electricity (aka shut off). The Stanford team says that they can control the shut-off temperature by tinkering with the number of nanoparticles on the polymer. Hence, this new battery can shut down a smartphone battery long before it reaches 300 F and catches fire. The battery will automatically begin conducting electricity again when it is within its functional temperature.
This means that the new Stanford battery should be able to last longer due to avoiding the damage that usual lithium ion batteries take during their lifetime. Not to mention, that if a lithium battery overheats, and catches fire it will never be functional again. Hence, this new tech seems like a great alternative for manufacturers and consumers alike. However, we will just have to wait and hope that companies adopt this new polymer ASAP.
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