Skip to main content

Engineers have made a new type of lithium battery that won’t explode

Samsung’s exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphone may have been the most infamous example, but plenty of devices which rely on lithium-ion batteries have had their share of combustible incidents. While statistically rare, this is one of the risks of lithium-ion technology; frequently caused by problems with the permeable polyethylene separator that keeps the battery’s cathode and anode components separate.

A new piece of research coming out of the University of Michigan could help make for safer, less combustible batteries, however — and it may do so while doubling the output of current lithium-ion cells, and without taking up any more space.

Recommended Videos

“We have developed and demonstrated an effective approach to enable a new battery technology that uses a solid ceramic electrolyte instead of a liquid,” Jeff Sakamoto, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, told Digital Trends. “This ceramic is unique owing to its stability against lithium metal and high conductivity at room temperature. These two attributes enable the use of metallic lithium anodes, which could double the energy density compared to lithium-ion technology. Historically, lithium-ion performance has increased by a few percent per year over the last two decades. Moreover, lithium-ion performance is cresting at about 600 watt-hours per liter. This battery would enable a 100 percent improvement in energy density.”

In tests, the ceramic electrolyte has shown no visible degradation after long-term cycling, a problem which can eventually kill regular lithium-ion batteries. The technology could also lead to significantly faster charging times.

But could it really do away with the risk of exploding batteries altogether? While it may make a “dramatic” difference, Sakamoto acknowledged that more research needs to be done. “Our ceramic electrolyte is made at 1,000[-degrees] Celsius in air,” he continued. “It is not combustible. However, lithium metal is also reactive, but not flammable. We are conducting tests to quantify the safety of lithium metal-based batteries, and acknowledge that lithium metal may pose safety risks, too.”

The next phase of research involves developing a manufacturing process. It is hoped that this can be demonstrated a little under one year from now, by July 2019. “We hope to have a pre-pilot scale process in place by then,” Sakamoto said. “There are still many challenges, but we are making progress and learning a lot along the way.”

A paper describing the work was recently published in the Journal of Power Sources.

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
I’m still crossing my fingers that New World won’t brick my RTX 3090
New World landscape and ruins.

I've played New World for just over six hours with an RTX 3090, which I didn't think would be a problem. In July, when the New World beta went live, users reported the game bricking expensive RTX 3090 GPUs. The issue was resolved shortly after, but now that the game is live, reports are cropping up again.

Although claims of the RTX 3090 failing are present again, players are also reporting issues with some RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3080 models. In particular, the Gigabyte RTX 3080 Ti Eagle and the EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3.

Read more
You probably won’t see Samsung’s new 200-megapixel camera on the Galaxy S22
The Galaxy S21 Ultra from the back, held in a hand.

Samsung today announced a new camera sensor called the Isocell HP1. As the first 200-megapixel (MP) camera sensor, it will allow smartphone cameras to capture super-high-resolution images.

Samsung is also offering a new Isocell GN5, a 50MP sensor that is built around ultrafast autofocus. More interestingly, rumors have swirled about Xiaomi using a 200MP camera on the Xiaomi 12 Ultra. Unfortunately, there's almost no chance we'll see it on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, as previous leaks have indicated it's keeping the same 108MP resolution as the S21 Ultra. It's entirely possible that the following generation -- the speculative S23 series -- could take advantage of the new sensor.

Read more
Here’s why I probably won’t upgrade to Apple’s new iPad Pro
iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) vs. iPad Pro 11 (2021)

Apple has taken the wraps off of the long-rumored iPad Pro, which features an M1 processor that puts its performance on par with the latest MacBook Air and iMac models. The tablet offers other fresh features too, including an all-new "XDR" display on the 12.9-inch model, a USB 4 port, and 5G on cellular models. It was released at Apple's 2021 Spring Loaded event.

I've long been a fan of the iPad Pro, and in fact, replaced my laptop with an iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard last year. Safe to say, I use my iPad Pro a lot. So will I upgrade to the new model? Well, probably not. The upgrades look great and all, but frankly, for the vast majority of people they just won't matter.
Performance boost
Let's get one thing out of the way: The M1 chip is a beast. I used an M1 Mac Mini for a few weeks, and found it to offer an incredibly fast experience the majority of the time -- and including it on the iPad Pro is likely to make for a similarly fast experience.

Read more