Archive · 19 May 2025
Scientists Pinpoint Cause of Solid-State Battery Failures
Imagine a battery where the stuff that moves electricity is solid instead of liquid.
These batteries can be safer and hold more power.
However, they sometimes fail.
Scientists discovered that repeated charging and discharging, like bending a wire back and forth, can create tiny cracks in the battery.
These cracks grow over time, causing parts of the battery to touch that shouldn't, leading to a short circuit and the battery failing.
This new discovery helps scientists better understand how these batteries break, so they can be improved to last longer.
Scientists found mechanical laws may explain solid-state battery (SSB) failures, leading to longer operational lifetimes.
SSBs use a solid electrolyte, offering advantages over liquid electrolytes like increased safety and energy storage.
Dendrite growth, a persistent problem in SSBs, involves lithium filaments piercing the electrolyte and causing short circuits.
Researchers used operando microscopy to observe anode-electrolyte interfaces during charge-discharge cycles.
Repeated charge-discharge cycles can cause structural defects, leading to SSB failure due to fatigue.
- Who
- Researchers from Tongji University, Shanghai, and other institutions
- What
- The discovery of mechanical failure as the reason for solid-state battery failure.
- When
- The failure occurs after multiple charge-discharge cycles
- Where
- At the anode-electrolyte interface
- Why
- To determine the actual physical mechanism behind the failure of solid-state batteries.
- Key Component of SSB
- Solid electrolyte
- Primary failure mode
- Dendrite growth
- Technique used
- Operando scanning electron microscopy
- Time before voids emerged
- 30 minutes
- Cycle when short-circuit occurred
- 145 cycles