Scientists solve mystery of flammable lithium batteries
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 22:03 IST   |    2 Comments
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Scientists solve mystery of flammable lithium batteries
London: The growth of metal fibres, dubbed dendrites is one of the main reasons why lithium batteries in mobile phones, laptops and other devices overheat and catch fire, according to researchers at Cambridge University. There have been several news in recent years of iPads, laptops and mobile phones spontaneously catching fire. Batteries in laptops and mobile phones are designed to charge quickly, but this can cause dendrites to form on the battery's carbon anodes, dendrites, are the main cause of causes of short circuits. Now, with this finding, the researchers are hoping to get a better understanding of how dendrites form, and how their development can be halted, but using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to trace their development. The new information will help consumer electronics manufacturers improve the safety of lithium batteries. "Fire safety must be solved before we can get to the next generation of lithium-ion batteries and before we can safely use these batteries in a wider range of transport applications. Now that we can monitor dendrite formation inside batteries, we can identify when they are formed and under what conditions," said Professor Clare Grey, one of the researchers from Cambridge University's chemistry department.

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