Scientists Invent a Lithium-Ion Battery That Works Even When It's On Fire

A team of scientists led by Yi Cui, a materials scientist at Stanford, have created a new "fireproof" solid-state electrolyte for use in lithium-ion batteries. IEEE Spectrum reports: They used a flame-retardant material called decabromodiphenyl ethane, or DBDPE for short. To make their new solid-state electrolyte, the team first created a thin film by combining DBDPE with polyimide, a mechanical enforcer. Using polyimide has many advantages, says Wan. Apart from being "mechanically really strong," it boasts a high melting point (making it less likely that a short circuit will occur), a solutions-based manufacturing process (that's compatible with how batteries are made today), and it's inexpensive (3M even has film tapes made from it). The hitch, however, is that polyimide can't conduct ions. To get around this snag, Wan and his colleagues added two different polymers, polyethylene oxide (PEO) and lithium bistrifluoromethanesulfonylimide (LiTFSI), to the mix. "It's innovative -- they've smartly used co-polymers, which is a new way to solve the flammable polymer electrolyte battery problem," says Chunsheng Wang, a researcher who studies new battery technologies at the University of Maryland. The paper has been published in the journal Nano Letters.

Can it set itself on fire?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's nice and all that it works when its on fire, but how does it deal with not setting itself on fire? I'd prefer my batteries not to be on fire at all.

Re:Can it set itself on fire?

[Can'tNot]

It doesn't work when it's on fire, that's an amazingly stupid headline. It works when it's in a fire. I.e.: it's non-flammable. So it doesn't set itself on fire, which was the whole point.

It wouldn't work in a fire for very long of course, li-ion batteries lose capacity quickly when they're too hot.

Re:

[nospam007]

"It's nice and all that it works when its on fire, but how does it deal with not setting itself on fire? I'd prefer my batteries not to be on fire at all."

It just for computers so you can catch errors thrown by a Halt And Catch Fire exception.

In other news

[rsilvergun]

the scientists were immediately sued by Samsung for patent infringement.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

Came here to see this comment, and /. did not disappoint.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

And then Sony sued Samsung because of prior art.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Why is Samsung hoarding the batteries that work, though?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[infolation]

As Murray Walker says, "There's nothing wrong with the battery except that it's on fire."

Re:

[tigersha]

And they can use battery operated tools when they come over! Win-Win!

When my phone causes the plane to crash....

[JAnwyl]

When my phone causes the plane to crash I can make a call to say goodbye.

Re:

[apoc.famine]

No, it means that we can use these batteries for electric planes!

Re:

[AHuxley]

Think of the final data set the phone can send back to the telco about the heat and its location.
No more having to wonder around deep in the Amazon basin looking for a home with a POTS service.

All batteries work when they're on fire....

[DewDude]

provided you're wanting to make fire. Or heat.

power went out

[awwshit]

The power went out, check the batteries. Wait... there are no batteries just some smoldering goo.

Re:

[Mal-2]

I had the battery in my Chromebook fail. The two outermost cells in the pack swelled up to easily double their usual thickness, and the center one swelled less because it was physically restrained by the trackpad (which was mechanically damaged but I never use it). The thing is, I don't know when it failed. I use it as a set top box, mostly. It wasn't until I went to use it as a laptop that I said "hey wait, something's not right here" because the machine was bulging in places it shouldn't be, and the track

Re: power went out

[Kyogreex]

I use it as a set top box, mostly.

With the lid closed? Many laptops have cooling systems that arenâ(TM)t designed to work properly when the lid is closed.

Re:

[Mal-2]

The fans on this (Acer C720) rarely spin up full even with the lid closed -- except when I thought back on the week or two prior to discovery of the bloated battery, when it had been running the fan more than usual. I figured it was just getting on time to blow dust out, I had no idea it was LITERALLY DESTROYING ITSELF, while continuing to function.

Re:

[apoc.famine]

We had a batch of HP laptops at my work that did that. First one was one of the head honchos, who didn't notice that it was 2x as thick in the front as normal and rounded, and complained to IT that their trackpad wasn't working. Broke that laptop for sure. Then the rest of us were put on watch to look for any deformity, and within 2 months we had another dozen or so batteries fail in the same way. I caught mine early when the front seam started getting a warp to it. The rest of us were smart enough to not l

At last!

[sjames]

When my phone "vents with flame" I can put the event on instagram!

Cool, I guess?

[DontBeAMoran]

It's good that "fireproof", but what about price, power density, charging cycles, etc?

Re:

[Anarchduke]

why care about that when you can have flaming batteries!

Maybe...

[Guspaz]

Maybe try to make it not be on fire.

Finally the ghost rider can go all electric

[hobbes75]

Finally more co2 friendly

Finally, a use for all that hand sanitizer

[Daralantan]

Everyone is going to have so much sanitizer after buying out millions and millions of gallons of it. The pyros won't know what to set on fire with it! Now they can add working batteries to the list. Record a video of someone using their phone, while on fire. While the phone making the recording is on fire.

Great

[backslashdot]

Cause I need to refresh slashdot one last time before burning to a crisp.