LG Chem has made a significant breakthrough in battery safety by developing a temperature-responsive material designed to prevent electric vehicle (EV) battery fires. The company’s Platform Technology R&D team, in collaboration with Professor Lee Minah of POSTECH, created a Safety Reinforced Layer (SRL) that responds to rising temperatures inside the battery. This material, as thin as 1 micrometer, acts like a fuse to suppress thermal runaway by altering its electrical resistance when the battery starts overheating, blocking the flow of electricity before it can lead to a fire. Published in Nature Communications, the research demonstrates the material’s effectiveness in preventing fires during both battery impact and penetration tests, significantly improving the safety of lithium-ion batteries.
This new development addresses a critical issue with electric vehicle batteries—thermal runaway—which can lead to catastrophic fires if the cathode and anode come into contact. The material’s ability to react rapidly to overheating and its reversibility (allowing normal battery operation after the temperature stabilizes) sets it apart from previous safety technologies. In tests, batteries equipped with the SRL either avoided fires altogether or extinguished flames before a full thermal event occurred. LG Chem has completed safety verification for mobile batteries and plans to extend this testing to electric vehicle batteries. CTO Lee Jong-gu expressed confidence that this innovation would soon enter mass production, improving consumer safety and solidifying the company’s competitive edge in the battery market.
