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Title: Understanding Li-Ion Cell Internal Short Circuit and Thermal Runaway through Small, Slow and In Situ Sensing Nail Penetration

Abstract

Here we report a small, slow and in situ sensing (3S) nail penetration test method to understand Li-ion cell internal short circuit (ISC) and thermal runaway. The method not only keeps conventional nail penetration's advantage of simple implementation, but also enhances its relevance to field failures and enables detailed in situ diagnosis. It was applied to 3-Ah pouch cells and revealed insights that could not be captured by conventional methods. Most interestingly, multiple in situ temperature peaks were observed during a period of over 100 s before thermal runaway. These initial peaks exceeded safety limit but the temperature rapidly decreased after each peak instead of causing immediate thermal runaway. Further investigation suggested that the initial temperature peaks occurred when nail tip reached aluminum foil current collector to form a low resistance ISC between anode and aluminum foil. The rapid temperature decrease after each peak can be attributed to sudden drop of ISC current, which can be further attributed to rupture of aluminum foil and increase of contact resistance. The findings show that 3S nail penetration test can separate processes of ISC from thermal runaway and provide details of ISC at the level of individual electrode and current collector.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Carl Zeiss RMS, Pleasanton, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1616809
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of the Electrochemical Society (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society (Online); Journal Volume: 167; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1945-7111
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
25 ENERGY STORAGE

Citation Formats

Huang, Shan, Du, Xiaoniu, Richter, Mark, Ford, Jared, Cavalheiro, Gabriel M., Du, Zhijia, White, Robin T., and Zhang, Guangsheng. Understanding Li-Ion Cell Internal Short Circuit and Thermal Runaway through Small, Slow and In Situ Sensing Nail Penetration. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1149/1945-7111/ab8878.
Huang, Shan, Du, Xiaoniu, Richter, Mark, Ford, Jared, Cavalheiro, Gabriel M., Du, Zhijia, White, Robin T., & Zhang, Guangsheng. Understanding Li-Ion Cell Internal Short Circuit and Thermal Runaway through Small, Slow and In Situ Sensing Nail Penetration. United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ab8878
Huang, Shan, Du, Xiaoniu, Richter, Mark, Ford, Jared, Cavalheiro, Gabriel M., Du, Zhijia, White, Robin T., and Zhang, Guangsheng. Mon . "Understanding Li-Ion Cell Internal Short Circuit and Thermal Runaway through Small, Slow and In Situ Sensing Nail Penetration". United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ab8878. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1616809.
@article{osti_1616809,
title = {Understanding Li-Ion Cell Internal Short Circuit and Thermal Runaway through Small, Slow and In Situ Sensing Nail Penetration},
author = {Huang, Shan and Du, Xiaoniu and Richter, Mark and Ford, Jared and Cavalheiro, Gabriel M. and Du, Zhijia and White, Robin T. and Zhang, Guangsheng},
abstractNote = {Here we report a small, slow and in situ sensing (3S) nail penetration test method to understand Li-ion cell internal short circuit (ISC) and thermal runaway. The method not only keeps conventional nail penetration's advantage of simple implementation, but also enhances its relevance to field failures and enables detailed in situ diagnosis. It was applied to 3-Ah pouch cells and revealed insights that could not be captured by conventional methods. Most interestingly, multiple in situ temperature peaks were observed during a period of over 100 s before thermal runaway. These initial peaks exceeded safety limit but the temperature rapidly decreased after each peak instead of causing immediate thermal runaway. Further investigation suggested that the initial temperature peaks occurred when nail tip reached aluminum foil current collector to form a low resistance ISC between anode and aluminum foil. The rapid temperature decrease after each peak can be attributed to sudden drop of ISC current, which can be further attributed to rupture of aluminum foil and increase of contact resistance. The findings show that 3S nail penetration test can separate processes of ISC from thermal runaway and provide details of ISC at the level of individual electrode and current collector.},
doi = {10.1149/1945-7111/ab8878},
journal = {Journal of the Electrochemical Society (Online)},
number = 9,
volume = 167,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Apr 27 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Mon Apr 27 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

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