3 ms·

So aside from the lithium, what is causing the runaway thermal to fire/explosion??

rootusrootus 4y ago
The electrolyte is very flammable and a short circuit provides the temperature to ignite it. Some lithium battery chemistries (LFP is probably the most common, but LTO as well) are much less likely to burn when they fail catastrophically.
- cogman10 4y ago
  Can LFP experience thermal runaway? I was under the impression you could put a nail through an LFP cell and It'd mostly be fine.
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Yes, but it is the most tame of common chemistries. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2014/ra/c3ra45748f https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2014/ra/c3ra4574...
boshomi 4y ago
Nickel and Cobalt. This metal oxids creates molecular oxigen. This oxygen feeds the fire and make it hard to fight. Lithium iron phosphate do not show this kind of reaction.
- peteey 4y ago
  Yes and no. Lithium metal is the highly reactive element in batteries. Similar to Hydrogen and Sodium, elements in the first column of the periodic table are highly reactive (flammable) because they readily give away their single electron in the outermost orbital. Some Lithium battery variants might have marginally safer properties, but they are fundamentally volatile at full charge.
  - philipkglass 4y ago
    Commercial lithium ion batteries do not contain metallic lithium in the charged or uncharged state. They have lithium ions intercalated into the anode material in the charged state. Primary (disposable) lithium batteries do contain metallic lithium in the charged state, and there are efforts to develop rechargeable batteries using pure lithium metal at the anode. Rechargeable batteries that contain metallic lithium anodes would be able to store more energy, but they are also more hazardous and currently have low cycle life.
  - girvo 4y ago
    Most batteries have lithium complexes (cobalt oxide, iron phosphate, and so on) though, not elemental Li, and so have different properties.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

The electrolyte is very flammable and a short circuit provides the temperature to ignite it. Some lithium battery chemistries (LFP is probably the most common, but LTO as well) are much less likely to burn when they fail catastrophically.

cogman10 4y ago
Can LFP experience thermal runaway? I was under the impression you could put a nail through an LFP cell and It'd mostly be fine.
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Yes, but it is the most tame of common chemistries. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2014/ra/c3ra45748f https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2014/ra/c3ra4574...

boshomi 4y ago

Nickel and Cobalt. This metal oxids creates molecular oxigen. This oxygen feeds the fire and make it hard to fight. Lithium iron phosphate do not show this kind of reaction.

peteey 4y ago
Yes and no. Lithium metal is the highly reactive element in batteries. Similar to Hydrogen and Sodium, elements in the first column of the periodic table are highly reactive (flammable) because they readily give away their single electron in the outermost orbital. Some Lithium battery variants might have marginally safer properties, but they are fundamentally volatile at full charge.
- philipkglass 4y ago
  Commercial lithium ion batteries do not contain metallic lithium in the charged or uncharged state. They have lithium ions intercalated into the anode material in the charged state. Primary (disposable) lithium batteries do contain metallic lithium in the charged state, and there are efforts to develop rechargeable batteries using pure lithium metal at the anode. Rechargeable batteries that contain metallic lithium anodes would be able to store more energy, but they are also more hazardous and currently have low cycle life.
- girvo 4y ago
  Most batteries have lithium complexes (cobalt oxide, iron phosphate, and so on) though, not elemental Li, and so have different properties.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]