dr. lorenzo grande, who has worked on graphene-based materials at the nokia research centre in cambridge (u.k.) and as a visiting scholar at the university of aveiro in portugal and the italian national agency for new technologies and energy in rome, explored the causes behind the recent outbreak of battery fires in samsung’s galaxy note 7 in an article for ee times.

(wikimedia commons)

grande explained that samsung’s decision to incorporate a 3,500 mah lithium-ion battery, as opposed to the iphone’s 2,900 mah, forced production to be sped up at the expense of quality. he added that the samsung issues indicate the inherent danger of lithium-ion batteries that use flammable liquids as electrolytes.

grande wrote, “a number of additives are mixed with these electrolytes to act as flame retardants, but the truth remains that -- under the right conditions -- thermal runaway is still an issue.”

companies are currently exploring alternatives from ionic liquids to inorganic and polymer electrolytes to a sulphur-chlorine-based solid conductor, but all the options are still potential and yet to reach a point that they are ready for commercial applications.

“using non-flammable electrolytes also has the added benefit of increasing a battery's energy density at pack level,” said grande, “because they can make thermal management systems redundant and reduce the amount and weight of ancillary components.”

read the full article at http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330562&.