Henceforth phones, cars, planes will not explode because of a bad battery

Exploding batteries, batteries catching fire will no more happen with you as scientists have developed a new battery that is non-flammable.

We have been using Li-ion batteries to power our phones. Use fake chargers, asking the phone to multi-task putting pressure on the battery may lead the battery to blast or burn. Researchers at the University of North Carolina have come up with a new lithium-ion battery that will not catch fire.


A team of researchers led by chemist Joseph DeSimone at University was investigating a material that prevents marine life from sticking to the bottom of ships. They identified a surprising replacement for the only inherently flammable component of today’s lithium-ion batteries in a new the electrolyte.

Lithium ions shuttle through this liquid from one electrode to the other when the battery is being charged. But when the batteries are overcharged, the electrolyte can catch fire and the batteries can spontaneously combust.

“Researchers have been looking to replace this electrolyte for years, but nobody had ever thought to use this material called perfluoropolyether, or PFPE, as the main electrolyte material in lithium-ion batteries before” said DeSimone, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry and William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Apart from being nonflammable the perfluoropolyether (also called PFPE) sports very interesting properties such as its ion transport, that makes this electrolyte stand apart from previous discoveries, reports the research team.
The PFPE is the same polymer that has long been used as a heavy-duty lubricant to keep gears in industrial machinery running smoothly.

“When we discovered that we could dissolve lithium salt in this polymer, that’s when we decided to roll with it. Most polymers don’t mix with salts, but this one did—and it was nonflammable. It was an unexpected result” says Dominica Wong of the research team

The work has been published in the Feb. 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This discovery has the potential to address concerns like battery fires in Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Tesla Model S vehicles.

We hope phone manufacterurs and battery designers are reading this news.