'SAFIRE' Design Prevents Lithium-Ion Battery Fires
Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a safer lithium-ion battery design called the Safe Impact Resistant Electrolyte (SAFIRE). “In a lithium-ion battery, a thin piece of plastic separates the two electrodes,” says Gabriel Veith of ORNL. “If the battery is damaged and the plastic layer fails, the electrodes can come into contact and cause the battery's liquid electrolyte to catch fire.” To make these batteries safer, some researchers use a nonflammable solid electrolyte, but Veith says that these solid-state batteries require retooling of the current production process. His team mixes an additive into the conventional electrolyte to create an impact-resistant electrolyte. It solidifies when hit, preventing the electrodes from touching if the battery is damaged during a fall or crash. Incorporating the additive would require only minor adjustments to the conventional battery manufacturing process.
Transcript
00:00:04 In a lithium ion battery such as those used in cellphones and electric vehicles, the electrolyte inside the battery is an organic liquid. This organic liquid is flammable like gasoline. In the event of a crash or a mechanical event that smooshes that battery. The electrodes touch each other and all the energy is released at once. That energy is given off in the form of heat, which causes the organic to heat up, vaporize and eventually it could catch on fire. The SAFIRE technology replaces the electrolyte with a new electrolyte that is a liquid under normal circumstances, but the minute you hit it, it becomes a solid. That solid forms a solid barrier between the materials and prevents them from touching
00:00:44 during a crash. The nice thing about the SAFIRE technology is that it's a drop-in solution, compatible with existing manufacturing processes. You don't have to re-tool production lines or re-imagine how to build the batteries, you can use existing facilities just a slight modification of the electrolyte. Envision putting it in automotive applications.The benefit of an automotive application is that if make your battery tougher, preventing any impact damage to it, you could theoretically remove several hundred pounds of armor around your lithium ion battery. Now your car will go farther on the same size battery, because you're not carrying around as much dead load of armor around the battery.