Stoba Material ‘Trips’ Thermally to Eliminate Lithium Ion Battery Explosion Issue

Lithium Ion is currently the most famous battery technology that has been widely used in mobilephones, portable media devices, laptop and other handheld devices. Although it seems to be trouble free and quite reliable for use, but there will be occasion that the Lithium-Ion based battery can overheat and explode and that is one of the key reasons that triggers for next generation Zinc-Air battery technology besides prolong battery life. However, it may take some times before Zinc-Air really come in and as an interim solution, a team or researchers led by Alex Pang has invented a new material named as Stoba that is claimed to be able to prevent explosion incident when it is overheated under any extreme situation.

Stoba is a material that sits between positive and negative nodes of battery and with its unique characteristics, it can change from original porous material into film type as and when the internal temperature reaches 130 degree centigrade. By then, it will stop the reaction and eventually prevent explosion or fire incidents. Typically, the internal short can result in as high as 500 degree centigrade which will otherwise pose serious threat for end users.

This seems to be one of the innovative solutions by adding a new material into it but at the same time, additional cost will be incurred and the researcher further emphasized that there will be around two to three percent of cost increase but nevertheless, consumers’ safety should always be prioritized. The new batteries based on Stoba is expected to reach commercial market by 2010.