Sheffield team develops new method for determining battery health

The technique - which uses ultrasonic waves to probe s battery’s internal structure - could be used to identify battery problems much earlier, before they reach the point of no repair, helping to extend their life cycles, reduce electronic waste and the demand for new batteries that use critical raw materials.

Published as part of a study in the Journal of Energy Storage, The new method could be used by manufacturers to help them spot battery defects during production - reducing the number of faulty batteries reaching consumers - and be used during servicing to provide a more accurate assessment of a battery’s health.

The team from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Mechanical Engineering developed the technique by using a single ultrasonic wave to reverse engineer a lithium-ion battery cell for the first time.

Currently, the main way to accurately assess the internal condition of a lithium-ion battery is by using an x-ray machine, which is expensive and impractical for businesses, manufacturers and consumers. This means defects can be missed and not identified until the battery shows visible damage, such as swelling, which is often when the battery is beyond repair.

The team claims the breakthrough could lead to the development of new systems for assessing the health of lithium-ion batteries and open up the possibility of developing small sensors that could be fitted onto the battery to provide real-time monitoring of its condition.

Royce Copley, a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the study, said: “Lithium-ion batteries are essential components of so many of the electronic devices we all rely on everyday, We’ve all been in that situation when we’ve noticed that the battery in our phone doesn’t seem to be lasting as long, or our phone suddenly dies when we are out and need it the most. It is even more frustrating when the battery in a new device seems to be running out of charge quickly, even though you only recently bought it.  The technique we’ve developed at Sheffield could help to put an end to these problems. It could form the basis of a cheap, but incredibly effective way of spotting battery problems before they reach the consumer.” 

The team is now looking for an industrial partner to help develop the technology.