Charging rate effect on overcharge-induced thermal runaway characteristics and gas venting behaviors for commercial lithium iron phosphate batteries

Increasing charging rate is an upgrading direction of electrochemical energy storage, which might induce more heat accumulation, posing a higher risk to cause the battery thermal runaway (TR). Driven by this, an experimental investigation was carried out to study the characteristics of TR and gas venting behaviors in commercial lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries that were induced by overcharging under different rates. As the charging rate increases, the growth rate of lithium dendrites accelerates, resulting in the earlier formation of large-scale short circuits and a rapid transition to the next stage of the TR chain reaction. However, the temperature rise and the total heat does not increase in proportion to the charge rates. The electrolyte also accelerates its decomposition, and the reaction between the electrolyte and lithium is the main reason of overcharge heat accumulation. It is worth noting that the charging rate for overcharging is positively correlated with the TR violence of batteries and the explosion risk of the ejected gas. The main gases emitted are H₂, CO, and CO₂ and various alkanes. Specifically, the content of H₂ gas increases significantly with the increase of charging rate. And the H₂ contents for 2C, 1.5C and 1C correspond to 61%, 53% and 50%, respectively. The rapid growth of lithium dendrites results in a significant increase in H₂ generation and earlier capture. This is accompanied by a higher impact pressure and a lower explosion limit (LEL) of the combustible gas mixture, indicating a severer explosion risk. In short, by comparing the TR characteristics and gas products of LFP batteries with different charging rates, which is of great significance for the fire extinguishing design and emergency response of energy storage systems.