Posted on 26 Jan 2024
A team of scientists in South Korea say they have developed a method to build thermally stable and “long-lasting” lithium-ion batteries, Kallanish reports.
Lithium-ion batteries can face internal short circuits when the cathode and anode come into direct contact. While separators made of polyolefins – a type of polymer – are typically used to maintain separation, they can melt at higher temperatures.
Now, a team of researchers at Incheon National University, South Korea, have developed a method to improve the stability and properties of separators by using a layer of silicon dioxide and other functional molecules.
“Battery explosions are frequently initiated from the melting of a separator,” explains Jeongsik Yun, assistant professor from the department of energy and chemical engineering at the university. As commercial battery separators are made of polyolefins, which are vulnerable to heat, the scientists aimed to improve the thermal stability of the separators by coating them with thermally robust materials such as silicon dioxide, the professor says in a press release.
A study by the team found that graft polymerisation (a process to use polymer coatings) on a polypropylene (PP) separator, with a uniform layer of silicon dioxide, made the separator “stronger” and “more resistant to heat”, improving the cycling performance. In addition, the method “outperformed” other coating methods in terms of cell performance, notes the study, recently published in the journal Energy Storage Materials.
“We hope that the results of this study can enable the development of high-safety lithium batteries,” Yun adds. “We believe that the thermal stability of these batteries will greatly benefit the current fire-sensitive electric vehicle field. In the long term, this can motivate people to choose electric vehicles.”
Source:Kallanish
