Hitachi Maxell Develops New Separator For Enhanced Li-ion Safety

28 July 2008

Nikkei. Hitachi Maxell Ltd. has developed a new polyolefin separator coated with a nanolayer of a metal oxide that increases the safety of lithium ion batteries.

The new separator exhibits less than one-tenth of the normal amount of thermal shrinkage, reducing the chance that shorts will develop, causing fire. The company hopes to have a practical version of the technology ready within the year.

The coated separator shrinks by less than 5% even when heated to 180 C. There is therefore much less chance of the separator shrinking to the extent that the electrodes can make contact and short out.

Hitachi is developing manganese-based cathode materials and a new surface-modified graphite anode material (SMG) using a combination of amorphous carbon and Hitachi’s patented MAG artificial graphite for its next generation of lithium-ion batteries, to be commercialized in three-four years. (Earlier post.)