The Institute of Energy Technology (IFE) has researched a new type of battery that reduces the fire hazard to a fraction of its present level.
‘’A breakthrough’’ researchers behind the new lithium-ion battery believe.
Today’s generation of Lituim-ion batteries are found everywhere,but there are accidents with some dramatic consequences.
‘’We use them in cars and cell phones, all kinds of tools, we have them in our pockets, on our wrists, and on the nightstand. It is therefore important to make batteries with an ever increasing capacity, but it is also important to make the batteries safer,”said senior researcher at IFE, Magnus H. Sørby.
Flammable
The biggest safety risk in today’s batteries is the so-called electrolyte, a highly flammable liquid that leads Li-ions between the electrodes inside the battery.
It is because of the fire hazard in the electrolyte that you are warned not to charge your cellphone at night. Fire in the electrolyte also caused Boeing’s Dreamliners to be
grounded, while Samsung was forced to recall more than one million Note 7 phones.
There have been many attempts internationally to replace the liquid electrolyte with a non-flammable substance. But so far this has resulted in poorer conductivity and thus lesspower in the batteries.
Raised eyebrows
This is the riddle IFE researchers now think they’ve solved.
“We have developed a new solid material that conducts lithium ions almost as well as liquid electrolytes,” said department manager, Bjørn Christian Hauback, at IFE.
‘’In addition, the material looks stable with the electrodes in the battery.This combination is such that no-one else has previously been able to document,’’ he said.
According to IFE, the breakthrough has already been shown to major car manufacturers in both Europe and Asia.
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