Kevlar can now do more than block bullets, as a group of researchers at the University of Michigan are using the material to make lithium-ion batteries safer to use.
The goal of the team is to keep such batteries from catching on fire, which was the cause for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner being grounded for months, according to Gizmodo. Batteries use insulating batteries to keep lithium ions on specific circuit paths when passing between layers of electrodes, but lithium atoms can arrange themselves into structures called dendrites that get bigger and find their way into the insulating membrane.
As a result, these atoms can make contact with electrodes and cause a short circuit, which leads to battery fires.
In order to solve this problem, the research team placed layers of Kevlar-based nanofibers on top of each other to form extremely thin insulating sheets, Gizmodo reported. These sheets come with microscopic pores that are too small for dendrites to get through and make contact with electrodes, and the only things that can get through the pores are individual lithium-ions.
Being heat-resistant makes the Kevlar layers very beneficial for batteries that can heat easily, and the material is thin enough to allow for more space for electrodes in batteries, which, in turn, are able to produce more energy.
The University of Michigan research team, consisting of professor Nicholas Kotov and Ph.D. student Siu On Tung, has created its own company, called Elegus Technologies, that aims to make these Kevlar batteries commercially available, Engadget reported. Mass production is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2016, bringing us closer to having smartphones that won't explode out of nowhere.
