Fire boundaries of lithium-ion cell eruption gases caused by thermal runaway

Weifeng Li; Shun Rao; Yang Xiao; Zhenhai Gao; Yupeng Chen; Hewu Wang; Minggao Ouyang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102401

Fire boundaries of lithium-ion cell eruption gases caused by thermal runaway

iScience. 2021 Apr 7;24(5):102401. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102401. eCollection 2021 May 21.

Authors

Weifeng Li¹, Shun Rao¹, Yang Xiao¹, Zhenhai Gao¹, Yupeng Chen², Hewu Wang³, Minggao Ouyang³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China.
² Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P.R. China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries are applied in electric vehicles to mitigate climate change. However, their practical applications are impeded by poor safety performance owing mainly to the cell eruption gas (CEG) fire triangle. Here, we report quantitatively the three fire boundaries corresponding to the CEG fire triangle of four types of mainstream cells with the state of charge (SOC) values ranging from 0% to 143% based on 29 thermal runaway tests conducted in an inert atmosphere in open literature. Controlling the SOC and/or selecting a reasonable cell type can alter the minimum CEG and oxygen concentrations required for ignition, thereby changing the probability of a battery fire. The ignition temperature varies greatly according to the type of ignition source type. Temperature and ignition source type play a leading role in the ignition mode. Breaking any fire boundary will stop the ignition of CEG, thus significantly improving the battery safety performance.

Keywords: Electrochemical Energy Storage; Electrochemistry; Engineering; Mechanical Engineering.