Insights into extreme thermal runaway scenarios of lithium-ion batteries fire and explosion: A critical review

Abstract

The safety issues of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) caused by thermal runaway (TR) have been a worldwide hot topic in the current research as their large-scale application in the fields of transportation and energy storage. Under abusive conditions, LIBs are susceptible to severe TR incidents, such as rupture, fire and explosion, posing significant risks to safety and property. This study aims to interpret extreme TR hazards of LIBs throughout the entire evolution process by reviewing manifestation forms, evolution mechanisms, assessment parameters and modeling methods. Additionally, the corresponding state-of-the-art countermeasures for TR hazards were analyzed. Then this review discussed the challenges and prospects for future research, focusing on intrinsic research of TR, TR hazards modeling and the safety measures. Further, a multi-field, multi-dimensional and multi-physics modeling framework was developed to fully describe extreme TR scenarios. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of TR scenarios and reveals the evolution mechanism between different hazard forms. Insights from this review serve as scientific guidance for the design of next-generation battery safety systems, towards addressing thermal safety issues of LIBs from a new interdisciplinary perspective.