It seems Samsung’s Note 7 catastrophe served as a motivation to researchers. The banned device was faced with cases of battery explosions that placed the users’ lives in danger. Researchers have now developed a battery with Built-In Fire Extinguisher. When the lithium-ion battery gets too hot, the extinguisher is released, cooling down the battery.
As per tests done to determine the efficiency of the latest innovation, battery fires were put out in 0.4s, reports Yahoo.
Most devices used at home including smartphones are powered with the lithium-ion batteries. However, these are known to be hazardous.
How the technique works
Flame retardant triphenyl phosphate (TPP) sits inside a shell within the electrolyte fluid. The shell melts when the temperature reaches 150C (302F), releasing the chemical compound.
There have been attempts in the past to include TPP in the batteries with no shell but their performance has been hampered.
Short-circuiting happens mainly when there is a sudden change in the lithium-ion battery cell or an error by the manufacturing. This short-circuits potentially causes fire.
Samsung is currently investigating what caused the Galaxy Note 7 to explode but some reports already cast the blame on the batteries.
But the firm has refused to confirm this.
Via Tech Radar
In a statement, the Korean-based company said that it is aware people need quick answers to the problems they faced. We “appreciate your continued patience as well as that of our valued customers, partners and stakeholders. We are working diligently to ensure that we have a comprehensive update and will provide more information in the coming weeks once we have the final report,” said Samsung through the statement.