The role of lithium creep in batteries

Researchers reveal the role of 'lithium creep' in batteries

New Deakin University study brings safer and more potent electric vehicles one step closer. 

It has identified a key component of lithium-metal batteries that could stop battery deterioration and help create the next generation of lithium batteries.

Researchers from the Institute for Frontier Materials who work at the ARC Training Centre for Future Energy Storage Technologies (storEnergy) have revealed for the first time how negatively "lithium metal creep" deformation affects the performance and safety of Li-metal pouch cell batteries in a paper that was published in the Journal of Power Sources.

However, when a separator loses its mechanical integrity, it can cause a battery to fail and catch fire because it can no longer act as a barrier between the positive and negative electrodes inside the battery.

"Among the many battery technologies, Li-metal batteries give the highest specific energy. 

However, Li metal is a soft substance that deforms quickly under pressure, which is termed as Li creep," lead researcher and senior battery engineer Mojtaba Eftekharnia says.

"Li creep deformation results in mechanical deterioration in the separator, which finally leads to battery failure, because Li metal is in touch with a delicate battery component known as a separator.

This study demonstrates that new battery separators need be created to satisfy the mechanical criteria because the current commercial separators are not mechanically compatible with the upcoming high-energy density batteries.

The research's discovery coincides with the global and Australian upsurge in popularity of electric automobiles. 

In 2022, Tesla passed Toyota to become the manufacturer of the most popular car in Australia.

The next stage in this line of inquiry, according to Mr. Eftekharnia, was a more thorough examination of separators.

"It would be an intriguing field of research to develop separators that suit the many requirements, including mechanical strength," he says.