CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS have hit on an approach that could prevent the fire safety problems that have dogged lithium-ion batteries.

What they’ve done is look at the chemistry inside a lithium-ion battery using a technique called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Lithium-ion battery technology has enabled the development of electronic devices like laptops, but as The INQUIRER reported in 2006 there is a serious problem with it - they can catch fire.

This can occur over several charge and discharge cycles, particularly if the batteries are charged quickly. Minute fibres of lithium known as dendrites form on the carbon anodes. These can cause short circuits, causing the battery to overheat and catch fire or even explode.

Professor Clare Grey of Cambridge University’s department of chemistry said that before the next generation of lithium-ion batteries can safely be used, this fire safety problem has to be solved.

Her research will let researchers monitor the dendrite formation inside intact batteries, identify when they are formed, and under what conditions.

She said, “Our new method should allow researchers to identify which conditions lead to dendrite formation and to rapidly screen potential fixes to prevent the problem.”

This breakthrough could also push on the development of lithium battery technology in the next generation of electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf. µ