Chinese scientists create material that prevents battery fires
Scientists at Nanjing University of Technology in China have achieved a significant breakthrough in ensuring the safety of lithium-ion batteries. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
They have developed a completely new thermal insulation material capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 1300 degrees. This development, created based on silica aerogel, serves to prevent the unobstructed spread of heat in battery blocks.
It is known that overheating of a single cell triggers a chain reaction, leading to the ignition of the entire system. The new material is designed specifically to halt this dangerous process.
According to the researchers, this substance acts as a sturdy, high-temperature-resistant barrier between cells. In the conducted tests, a plate just 2.3 millimeters thick demonstrated remarkable results.
Even after being exposed to a temperature of 1000 degrees for five minutes, the temperature on its opposite side did not exceed 100 degrees. Engineers claim that this thermal protection capability is maintained for up to two hours.
This is enough time to stop the spread of fire in emergency situations and ensure passenger safety. While previous generations of aerogel materials typically withstood temperatures of up to 300 degrees, the new development has expanded this limit several times over.
Additionally, the material possesses a high degree of flexibility. This ensures that the shape of the protective layer is not distorted when batteries expand and contract during charging and discharging.
Most importantly, specialists managed to reduce the cost of raw materials by more than half and increase production efficiency. This technology is expected to be widely applied not only in the electric vehicle industry but also in aerospace engineering and other fields where heat safety is of paramount importance.
Currently, the issues of implementing the project on an industrial scale and establishing mass production are being actively considered. This innovation will undoubtedly bring the reliability of using electric vehicles to a new level in the future.
