Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous. How to improve the safety properties of lithium-ion batteries?

From mobile phones, 3C products to electric vehicles or large-scale energy storage power plants, lithium-ion batteries can be said to be ubiquitous, mainstream energy storage technology today, but the safety nature has always been criticized, so many scientists have tried to find various solutions. Scientists have found that nanowires not only reduce the flammability of lithium-ion batteries, but also enhance battery performance, according to the American Chemical Society Journal NanoLetters.

Ions move through electrolytes at both ends of the electrode, and traditional battery electrolytes are made of salt and organic solvents. They are one of the most mature and widely used technologies, but they are prone to evaporation and may cause fire. Therefore, researchers have turned their eyes to solid electrolytes., And put forward a lot of potential options.

Polyelectrolytes are potential fresh forces and have the advantages of stability, cheapness, and tickling. However, they have poor electrical and mechanical properties at the same time and can not be commercialized. Therefore, in order to increase the competitiveness of the electrolyte, scientists want to enhance the electrolyte by increasing the arrangement of compounds.

Tao Xinyong, a material scientist at Zhejiang University of Technology, and his team produced magnesium borate (Mg2B2O5) nanowires. Because the material has good mechanical properties and conductivity, it is also a pollution-free, low-toxicity flame retardant that can improve the stability of the fireproof carbon layer. So the team wanted to place magnesium borate nanowires in solid polymer electrolytes and study whether the material's properties could contribute to battery performance.

The team mixed polymer electrolytes with magnesium borate nanowires of 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, and 20 % weight, respectively, and found that nanowires can increase electrolyte conductivity, and compared with electrolytes that do not add nanowires, new electrolytes can withstand more stress. Make the electrode surface more stable.

The team pointed out that the ion flow acceleration has further improved the battery conductivity, and the study also found that the electrolyte is not flammable. The team actually combined the new nanowires electrolyte with lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cathode and lithium anode. Compared with the old electrolytes, the rate-efficiency and cyclic capacity were also higher. At temperatures of 50 °C, 40 °C and 30 °C and 0.2 C, the cyclic capacity is 150, 106 and 50 mAhg-1.

However, the researchers also said that although the nanowires have greatly improved the conductivity and fire resistance, they still can not operate stably at room temperature, and there is still a distance from commercialization, and further research is needed.

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