The future of smartphones: fireproof batteries

As technology progresses, mobile devices become more and more powerful and capable. But with the increased power, also comes a greater need for higher capacity batteries, capable of sustaining the needs of their host devices.

As of late, however — meaning the last couple of years — there has been a growing number of reports about smartphones, and other mobile devices, bursting in flames while charging, or much worse, while on their owner. Most notably, last year the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 faced a global recall due to a still-mysterious defect that caused many units to catch fire, forcing the Korean tech giant to pull its latest flagship from the market. If there is a bright side to this whole fiasco, it would be the fact that major tech companies and researchers alike have taken note and are working toward preventing such issues in the future.

To tackle the problem, researchers from the Stanford University have developed a Li-ion battery with a “nonwoven electrospun separator with thermal-triggered flame-retardant properties”, or in layman's terms, a battery with a de facto fire extinguisher built-in. While the concept is not exactly new, previous attempts have resulted batteries with significantly reduced performance. This one, on the other hand, performs just as well as it would without the new fireproofing system, claims Prof Yi Cui, the project's lead scientist.