Chinese researchers have developed a new way to put out dangerous lithium-ion battery blazes using “dry water.” This stuff looks like a powder but it’s actually full of liquid water trapped inside. Wild!
Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire if they get too hot. This is bad news for electric cars, phones, and anything else powered by these batteries. Fires spread fast and spit out toxic fumes. Not fun.
So how do we chill these hot batteries and stop the fires? The go-to method is spraying water, which absorbs heat really well. But water can also conduct electricity and make things worse. Not ideal.
Enter dry water to save the day! This powder contains water droplets wrapped in a soft shell. When dry water hits a fire, the shells break, water evaporates, and flames cool down fast. Even better, the powder itself doesn’t conduct electricity like liquid water. No shorts or sparks!
Chinese researchers tested different dry water recipes with varying water content. They looked at how well each powder variant cooled down and insulated electricity. The results? Dry water beat plain water at suppressing battery overheating in every trial. Researchers also found that mixing fire retardant chemicals into the water boosted dry water’s performance even more.
There’s still more testing needed before dry water extinguishers are deployed commercially. But so far, these results look promising for the future of lithium-ion fire safety. Powdered water could help keep batteries chill, let electricity flow safely, and maybe even save lives.
