This might save the phone even if the battery fails. Published on journal site Science Advances, an approach to the lithium-ion battery fires:
Although the energy densities of batteries continue to increase, safety problems (for example, fires and explosions) associated with the use of highly flammable liquid organic electrolytes remain a big issue, significantly hindering further practical applications of the next generation of high-energy batteries. We have fabricated a novel “smart” nonwoven electrospun separator with thermal-triggered flame-retardant properties for lithium-ion batteries. The encapsulation of a flame retardant inside a protective polymer shell has prevented direct dissolution of the retardant agent into the electrolyte, which would otherwise have negative effects on battery performance. During thermal runaway of the lithium-ion battery, the protective polymer shell would melt, triggered by the increased temperature, and the flame retardant would be released, thus effectively suppressing the combustion of the highly flammable electrolytes. [Science Advances 13 Jan 2017: Vol. 3, no. 1, e1601978, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1601978]
They need a better editor, but it’s an interesting approach. Hopefully, your local phone technician will be able to tell that your battery didn’t burst into flame. (See, I can write as poorly as these folks.) (But my ideas aren’t nearly as good.) Of course, better to solve the problem a priori; this is more of a clean up after the problem has occurred.
