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Title: Characterising thermal runaway within lithium-ion cells by inducing and monitoring internal short circuits

Journal Article · · Energy & Environmental Science
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C7EE00385D· OSTI ID:1364157
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. College London, London (United Kingdom)
  2. NASA-Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (United States)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  4. Univ. of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom)
  5. Diamond Light Source, Didcot (United Kingdom)
  6. ESRF The European Synchrotron, Grenoble (France)
  7. National Physical Lab., Teddington (United Kingdom)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Lithium-ion batteries are being used in increasingly demanding applications where safety and reliability are of utmost importance. Thermal runaway presents the greatest safety hazard, and needs to be fully understood in order to progress towards safer cell and battery designs. Here, we demonstrate the application of an internal short circuiting device for controlled, on-demand, initiation of thermal runaway. Through its use, the location and timing of thermal runaway initiation is pre-determined, allowing analysis of the nucleation and propagation of failure within 18 650 cells through the use of high-speed X-ray imaging at 2000 frames per second. Furthermore, the cause of unfavourable occurrences such as sidewall rupture, cell bursting, and cell-to-cell propagation within modules is elucidated, and steps towards improved safety of 18 650 cells and batteries are discussed.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1364157
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5400-68166; EESNBY
Journal Information:
Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 10, Issue 6; ISSN 1754-5692
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 132 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (12)

Identifying the Cause of Rupture of Li-Ion Batteries during Thermal Runaway journal October 2017
4D imaging of lithium-batteries using correlative neutron and X-ray tomography with a virtual unrolling technique journal February 2020
A bifunctional auxiliary electrode for safe lithium metal batteries journal January 2019
Heat Generation and Thermal Transport in Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Scale-Bridging Perspective journal November 2018
A Coupled Electrochemical-Thermal Failure Model for Predicting the Thermal Runaway Behavior of Lithium-Ion Batteries journal January 2018
Perspective—From Calorimetry Measurements to Furthering Mechanistic Understanding and Control of Thermal Abuse in Lithium-Ion Cells journal January 2019
Analysis on the Fault Features for Internal Short Circuit Detection Using an Electrochemical-Thermal Coupled Model journal January 2018
Good Practices for Rechargeable Lithium Metal Batteries journal January 2019
Modeling Li-Ion Battery Temperature and Expansion Force during the Early Stages of Thermal Runaway Triggered by Internal Shorts journal January 2019
Safety Issues in Lithium Ion Batteries: Materials and Cell Design journal July 2019
Critical Review of the Use of Reference Electrodes in Li-Ion Batteries: A Diagnostic Perspective journal January 2019
Numerical Simulation and Experimental Study of Fluid-Solid Coupling-Based Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Detection of Stomata Defect of Lithium-Ion Battery journal May 2019

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