Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




ENERGY TECH
Li-ion battery's inner workings revealed
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) April 28, 2015


Scientists said Tuesday they have for the first time looked inside an overheating lithium-ion battery, using sophisticated X-ray imaging to identify ways to make the ubiquitous technology safer.

Light and rechargeable, the Li-ion battery powers our world -- everything from mobile phones, cameras and computers to electric cars and recently also e-cigarettes.

In rare cases, they can be dangerous, overheating and exploding -- causing injuries and fires.

Some airlines have banned bulk shipment of Li-ion batteries after tests showed that failure in one can cause a potentially catastrophic chain reaction.

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, scientists said they now have better insight into how the failure happens.

"This new technique will provide a capability for evaluating different batteries, and how they age, degrade and fail," according to study co-author Paul Shearing from University College London (UCL).

Hundreds of millions of Li-ion batteries are manufactured every year, said the team, and understanding what happens when they fail is key to improving their design.

Using a combination of high-speed X-ray tomography, radiography and thermal imaging, Shearing and a team were able to describe how overheating causes gas pockets to form inside the battery, deforming its inner layers.

Overheating can happen due to electrical or mechanical abuse or the presence of an external heat source -- for example failure of a neighbouring cell in a larger battery pack, said Shearing.

"Depending on the cell design, there are a range of critical temperatures which, when reached, will trigger further exothermic events, which also generate heat," he told AFP by email.

"Once the rate of heat generation exceeds the rate of heat dissipation into the environment, the temperature of the cell starts to rise, thereafter a sequence of detrimental events propagates in a process known as thermal runaway."

A UCL video on the experiment can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN8HcqAtDSY&feature=youtu.be


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





ENERGY TECH
New class of 3D-printed aerogels improve energy storage
Livermore CA (SPX) Apr 28, 2015
A new type of graphene aerogel will make for better energy storage, sensors, nanoelectronics, catalysis and separations. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have made graphene aerogel microlattices with an engineered architecture via a 3D printing technique known as direct ink writing. The research appears in the April 22 edition of the journal, Nature Communications. The 3D ... read more


ENERGY TECH
Russia Invites China to Join in Creating Lunar Station

Japan to land first unmanned spacecraft on moon in 2018

Dating the moon-forming impact event with meteorites

Japan to land probe on the moon in 2018

ENERGY TECH
Rover on the Lookout for Dust Devils

UAE opens space center to oversee mission to Mars

Robotic Arm Gets Busy on Rock Outcrop

Mars might have liquid water

ENERGY TECH
The Mysteries of Astronautics

NASA pushes back against proposal to slash climate budget

General Dynamics Integrates NASA's SGSS Infrastructure

India Role Model in Space Science Benefiting Common Man

ENERGY TECH
Xinhua Insight: How China joins space club?

Chinese scientists mull power station in space

China completes second test on new carrier rocket's power system

China's Yutu rover reveals Moon's "complex" geological history

ENERGY TECH
Progress Incident Not Threatening Orbital Station, Work of Crew

Russia loses control of unmanned spacecraft

Japanese astronaut to arrive in ISS in May

Liquid crystal bubbles experiment arrives at International Space Station

ENERGY TECH
Ariane 5's first launch of 2015

Arianespace to launch HellaSat-4/SGS-1 for Arabsat and KACST

Sentinel-2A payload processing begins for Vega launch in June

45th Space Wing successfully launches first-ever Turkmenistan satellite

ENERGY TECH
Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors

Astronomers join forces to speed discovery of habitable worlds

Titan's Atmosphere Useful In Study Of Hazy Exoplanets

Tau Ceti Probably not the next Earth

ENERGY TECH
Electron spin brings order to high entropy alloys

MIPT researchers grow cardiac tissue on 'spider silk' substrate

Seeing Stars Through The Cloud

Graphene brings 3-D holograms clearer and closer




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.