Thermal runaway has plagued the lithium-ion battery industry since its inception. While measures to mitigate safety risks have been advanced along the

LG Chem develops material capable of suppressing thermal runaway in batteries

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2024-10-03 14:30:04

Thermal runaway has plagued the lithium-ion battery industry since its inception. While measures to mitigate safety risks have been advanced along the way, reaching a very high point today, “thermal events” – which generate gas and can potentially escalate to full combustion – have not been rooted out for good.

Now, South Korea’s LG Chem claims to have found a solution to this long-standing issue. The conglomerate announced on Tuesday that its Platform Technology R&D team has developed a temperature-responsive Safety Reinforced Layer (SRL), a material which it describes as capable of suppressing thermal runaway.

It revealed that SRL is a composite material that changes its electrical resistance based on temperature, acting as a “fuse” that blocks the flow of electricity in the early stages of overheating.

The material comes in the form of a thin layer, just 1 micrometer (1μm) thick – about one hundredth the thickness of human hair – positioned between the cathode layer and the current collector (an aluminum foil that acts as the electron pathway). When the battery’s temperature rises beyond the normal range, between 90°C and 130°C, the material reacts to the heat, altering its molecular structure and effectively suppressing the flow of current, LG Chem said.