Isolating electronically conducting material from internal short circuits is a promising way to prevent the onset of thermal runaway within lithium-ion cells. Here, a metal-coated polymer current collector, which is designed to disconnect internal short circuits by withdrawing from the heating region, is tested in 18650 cells. In addition to having lower mass and manufacturing costs, cells with metal-coated polymer current collectors demonstrate a reduced risk of thermal runaway during nail penetration. High-speed synchrotron X-ray radiography of 18650 cells during nail-penetration testing, in tandem with pre- and post-mortem X-ray computed tomography, provides insights into the function of the current collectors. The results are compared with those of 18650 cells with standard commercial aluminum and copper current collectors. Cells with aluminum-coated polymer current collectors demonstrated 100% success in thermal runaway prevention during nail penetration, retaining a cell voltage >4.00 V, while standard cells consistently experienced thermal runaway.

将电子导电材料与内部短路隔离是防止锂离子电池内部热失控发生的一种有前途的方法。在此，在18650电池中测试了一种金属涂层的聚合物集电器，该聚合物集电器设计为通过从加热区域退出来断开内部短路。除了具有较低的质量和制造成本外，带有金属涂层的聚合物集电器的电池还显示出在钉子穿透过程中热失控的风险降低。与穿刺前后的X射线计算机断层扫描相结合，在钉子穿透测试期间对18650个细胞进行了高速同步X射线照相，从而洞察了集电器的功能。将结果与带有标准商用铝和铜集电器的18650电池的结果进行了比较。