Whilst battery failures are rare, as we deploy high energy density storage in an array of increasingly demanding applications, we must understand more about the possible failure modes to improve system safety and reliability.
From electric vehicles and micro-mobility to grid-scale energy storage, Li-ion batteries are part of everyday lives. In the future, we anticipate batteries will be deployed in further, demanding sectors, including in the electrification of flight, where batteries must meet enhanced safety requirements.
Estimates of cell failures in the field, suggest that one in 40 million cells may undergo catastrophic failure. However, under abusive conditions, batteries can fail in a process known as thermal runaway. For more than a decade, our research has developed new gold-standard characterization tools to probe the highly dynamic failure processes in real time.
This includes a long-term partnership with ESRF, the European Synchrotron, where we have developed ultra high-speed X-ray imaging tools, allowing us to see inside a battery during failure under a range of abusive conditions. This new insight has helped us to evaluate a range of battery designs and chemistries, which have delivered impact through our partnership with industry. For example, working with NASA, we have helped to qualify batteries for applications in the space programme.
As part of The Faraday Institution’s SAFEBATT programme, led by Oxford, we continue to drive the research agenda on battery safety, developing and deploying rigorous characterization and modelling tools to deliver new insight into the Science of Battery Safety.
