Understanding and Mitigating the Risks of Thermal Runaway in Li-ion Batteries

The webinar, hosted by Underwriters Laboratories on August 26, 2020, was presented Dr. Donal Finegan, staff scientist at the NREL Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences. This webinar discussed the application of X-ray techniques to understand failure mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries with an emphasis on how to design experiments to induce and investigate the worst-case thermal runaway scenarios. Insights from high-speed X-ray imaging experiments of Li-ion batteries during thermal runaway were shared as well as practical measures to improve the safety of Li-ion batteries.

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Dr. Finegan’s work focuses on understanding the degradation and failure mechanisms of Li-ion batteries and taking steps to improve the performance and safety of cells and battery systems. He is a frequent user of international synchrotron facilities and pioneered the application of high-speed X-ray imaging for diagnosing battery failure mechanisms during thermal runaway. Dr. Finegan is a visiting lecturer at University College London (UCL), has published more than 50 journal articles, and has received several internationally recognized awards.