Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

New Capabilities

Publisher of the Nature Energy study via its Institute of Physics

Every rechargeable battery in every electric car on the road carries the same vulnerability: if something goes wrong inside a cell — a puncture, a manufacturing defect, a short circuit — temperatures can spike and trigger a self-feeding chain reaction called thermal runaway, producing toxic smoke, fire, and sometimes explosions. A team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now published results in Nature Energy showing a sodium-ion battery with a built-in chemical failsafe: an electrolyte that automatically solidifies into a physical barrier when the cell heats past 150 degrees Celsius, cutting off the chain reaction before it starts. The battery survived both nail-puncture and 300-degree-Celsius oven tests with zero smoke, fire, or explosion — a first for a large-format sodium-ion cell.

Updated 4 hours ago