Lithium ion batteries are wonderful things , but they ’re unfortunately given to short circuiting and bursting into flames every now and then . It ’s inordinately rarefied , but it happens . A Stanford research team think they ’ve puzzle out this little heavy problem by building an early warning arrangement into an be assault and battery . They say it could save lives , which makes sense , because attack .
First of all , for the battery noobs among us : The first atomic number 3 ion shelling for consumer was released by Sony in 1991 , though scientists had worked on the type for tenner . Inside each battery are three basic parts : A positive lithium electrode ( or cathode ) , a C damaging electrode ( or anode ) , and a thing detachment between the two . This legal separation is what let Li ion pass back and forth in the process of charge and drop off .
But that separator is the trouble . If something live on awry and the electrode areallowed to cutaneous senses , detonation result . Though it definitely does n’t happen often , it does n’t have tofor it to be a big problem . It grounded Boeing ’s 787 Dreamliners . It ’s set off wads of merchandise recalls , fromHP laptopstosmartphones .
In a newspaper write today inNature Communications , four Stanford researchers named Hui Wu , Denys Zhuo , Desheng Kong , and Yi Cui detailed how they invented a childlike solution to the exploding battery brain-teaser . It ’s all about detecting leaks in that separator between the electrodes . The team create a tiptop - slender layer of cop and inserted it between the anode and cathode . If one escape into the other , the fuzz will detect it — and the stamp battery ’s voltage will fall to zero .
Here ’s what Denys Zhuo had to say about the project ina Stanford news report :
You might get a message on your phone telling you that the voltage has unload to zero , so the bombardment necessitate to be supplant . That would give you plenty of lead - sentence . But when you see smoke or a fervency , you have to shut down immediately . You might not have time to bunk . If you want to error on the side of being good , you could put the copper layer closer to the anode . That would lease you know even sooner when a battery is likely to fail .
It might seem like a little variety , especially considering the one - or - two - in - a - million chances of your phone exploding in your pocket . But seen in light of the impending inflow of even more li - ion battery - power devices in our lifespan , it ’s more crucial than ever .
After all , if we ’re really to believe that everything from ouryoga matsto ourworkout pantsto our glasses to our cars will be connected , pass water sure that the batteries inside those machine do n’t explode against our peel begin to sound like a pretty crucial innovation . [ Nature Communications;Stanford News ]
Image : Janaka Dharmasena
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