What Happens Inside A Battery Right Before Its Explosion?

Short bytes: The swelling of lithium-ion batteries like a pillow is a very common occurrence. This is due to the "Swiss roll" structure of the batteries. Due to overheating and other factors, the liquid components in the battery turn into gas and cause swelling. Additional stress sometimes causes a breakup and explosion. So users are advised to avoid battery-intensive tasks for continuous hours.

EXploding gadgets are quite common these days. Whether it is smartphones from popular brands like Oneplus, Samsung, Redmi, iPhones or other battery operated products like hoverboards, they are all susceptible to battery explosion. Are you wondering the cause? Well, he definitely has to do something with the lithium ion batteries that are used as a power source.

Having said that, have you ever removed the back cover from your smartphone and looked at the battery? Very often you can find a swollen battery that refuses to return to normal. To study such a phenomenon and what happens inside an overcharged battery, new research has been carried out.

Although lithium-ion batteries are widely used due to their ability to hold a lot of charge and being lightweight, they are prone to damage due to their structure. You can compare their structure to a Swiss spiral roll containing an electrode sheet.

What is inside a swollen battery? What causes the explosion?

According to a researcher Toby Bond and his team at Canadian Light Source, this configuration is dangerous if gas forms inside. If a battery is overheated or overcharged, or if it remains discharged for a long time, liquid chemicals can produce gas. This change causes the battery to swell.

In such cases, there are three possibilities:

• The battery may swell a little and continue to work
• It can swell a lot and stop working.
• Continued generation of gas may cause rupture, accompanied by fire / explosion.

Using a technique called computed tomography, the researchers found that as gas built up, the electrode layers distorted and separated. Due to some flaws in the manufacturing process, small issues with the battery make this situation more dangerous.

Bond suggests that improvements in the manufacturing process can make lithium-ion batteries less risky. In addition, lithium-ion batteries without liquid components can also help reduce the risk.

During this time, avoid performing battery-intensive tasks for long hours. This will reduce the chance of overheating and swelling.

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Also read: Should I keep my laptop battery plugged in all the time?