UC San Diego

The safety of lithium-ion battery (LIB) becomes increasingly critical as the specific energy and cell capacity rapidly increase. Based on the modified current collector technique recently developed for nickel-cobalt-manganese active materials, here we investigate high-energy LIBs based on functional current collectors (FCC). Two high-voltage active materials were tested in our experiments: lithium-rich layered oxide (LRLO) and lithium nickel manganese oxide (LNMO). At the same time as a fully charged LIB cell is damaged, FCC isolates the internal short circuit (ISC) from the undamaged area; hence, the ISC-induced heat generation is drastically reduced to a negligible level. The electrochemical performance of FCC-based cells is nearly identical to that of reference cells.