Electrochemical and Thermal Studies of Fluorinated Electrolytes in Li-ion Cells

Safety of Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries is a major concern for high power applications, such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and/or electric vehicles (EV). Thermal runaway, which is known to be initiated by the anode in combination with the electrolyte [1], arises when the lithium ion battery is subjected to abuse, causing battery damage and perhaps catastrophic failure. Three ingredients that make the lithium ion battery hazardous are oxygen, which can be released at high temperatures from the lattice of the cathode material, the non-aqueous electrolyte which consists of a lithium salt and a flammable organic solvent, and heat, generated during exothermic reactions. To overcome this safety hazard, two directions can be envisaged. The first direction is to find a more structurally stabl