Why lithium-ion batteries blow up read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/777-why-lithium-ion-batteries-blow-up

Today’s world is full of power hungry devices and there is hardly any device which doesn’t get its power from lithium-ion batteries. But in the recent past there has been many instances where lithium-ion batteries got fire, exploded or burnt out.

In the recent instances this issue caused a considerable recall of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. It’s basically the result of running after more powerful, lightweight and easily rechargeable batteries to power numerous consumer devices.

In early 90’s these batteries were first introduced in hand held video cameras. Since then their use has increased fourfold to power anything and everything from aircraft electrical systems to cars to handheld devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops etc. Not only this there has been increase in incidences of fires caused by these batteries and mass recalls of products also. It includes last year’s hover-board flameout and the grounding of Boeing 787s.         

These batteries attract manufacturers as it is easy to store relatively large amount of energy in compact size batteries. Today’s smart, compact, powerful and swanky devices are possible because of these batteries only. Manufacturers are compelled to go for these batteries as consumers are continually demanding more power for their devices. Lithium-ion batteries are considered to be less dangerous than any other battery but since they are more energy dense and that makes these batteries more dangerous.     

However majority does it safely but poorly designed, faulty or counterfeit batteries can sometimes burst, explode or simply overheat.

The lithium-ion batteries work by moving lithium particles between a negative and positive electrode to charge or discharge. To allow those particles to move easily, they’re suspended in pressurized cells inside the batteries filled with volatile and flammable chemicals.

The movement of the particles causes heat as the battery is charged or discharged. If the battery was badly designed or improperly used or installed, that heat can ignite the chemicals, causing flames or explosions. Damage to the thin walls that keep the different parts of the battery separate can also lead to short circuits and a corresponding heat buildup resulting in fire or explosion.

Overall these batteries are very safe and billions of lithium-ion batteries are in use worldwide but still there have been many newsworthy instances of failure.