New thickening electrolyte escorts the safety of lithium batteries

A new type of thick electrolyte lithium battery is the most common type of battery in a safe electric vehicle. The most common type of battery is a lithium battery. However, a car's impact or other impact can cause the battery to catch fire or explode. Dr. Yu Zhu, associate professor of polymer science at the University of Akron in the United States, said: Although we have made great efforts in battery thermal management, the recent electric vehicle battery fires and explosions still arouse great public attention. In most cases, the battery needs to be subjected to abnormal conditions such as external shock or impact before it can catch fire. Dr. Zhu and his team improved the safety of lithium batteries by creating a shear-thickening electrolyte. Electrolyte is placed between the positive and negative electrodes so that they can withstand shocks, so any shock will not cause the battery to catch fire or explode. Under normal conditions, the new electrolyte remains soft. The positive and negative electrodes of lithium batteries for electric vehicles are separated by a very soft film and liquid electrolyte, YuZhu said. So we still use similar liquid electrolyte under normal conditions, but under impact conditions, liquid electrolyte can improve its mechanical strength, so we developed a shear thickening electrolyte. This electrolyte can be imagined as a mixture of water and flour. When you slowly stir the flour and water with your hands, you will feel a little resistance. However, if the stirring speed is increased, there will be obvious resistance. In fact, a bowling ball can bounce off the surface of water and flour, and when it is hit, it behaves as if it is solid. Liquids with this property are called spheroids, which are non-Newtonian fluids. Assuming that the electrolyte is also a swelling substance, it can prevent the battery from short-circuiting when subjected to external shocks. But making a shear-thickened electrolyte is much more difficult than mixing flour and water, because the composition of the electrolyte is chaotic, including different ions, solvents, and additives. Zhu pointed out that in preliminary research, we demonstrated an improved low-cost glass fiber, which can produce shear thickening electrolyte, is compatible with commercial lithium batteries, and shows good impact resistance. Compared with traditional liquid electrolytes, this shear thickening electrolyte will not significantly reduce the performance of lithium batteries. The electrolyte immediately becomes a solid after being impacted, and due to the shear thickening effect, a greater force appears on the external impact. This solution can be used as a compensation for the external thermal management system of the battery pack, which is often unable to cope with the sudden external impact on the battery. In addition, Zhu also said that this research can improve the safety of lithium batteries, especially lithium batteries used in electric vehicles, and other applications such as bulletproof energy storage devices. Disclaimer: Some pictures and content of the articles published on this site are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete. Previous: Analysis of new battery technology after lithium-ion rechargeable battery