With Panasonic and Matsush_ita joining the procession Tuesday of companies recalling notebook computer lithium ion batteries, the CEO of a company developing heat-resistant battery technologies said the safety challenges will keep growing with the demand for more robust but safer batteries. "I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with lithium ion technology," said Steven Carlson of Optodot in an interview. "It's just that the requirements (of manufacturers) are pushing the limits of lithium ion. We need to move swiftly now to fix the problem."
Optodot has developed an advanced separator technology that separates electrodes in the batteries. The small firm's inorganic separator technology is based on the use of metal oxide inorganic materials that don't melt at high temperatures. The batteries that have been recalled by Apple, Dell, Sony and now Panasonic and Matsu****a have sometimes caught on fire because microscopic material got into battery cells, causing short circuits. Notebook battery fires have most commonly broken out in flammable organic solvent in the batteries.
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News source: CRN
