A La and Nb co-doped BaTiO₃ film with positive-temperature-coefficient of resistance for thermal protection of batteries

Battery safety is the number one priority for consumers and manufacturers, particularly for large-scale applications like electric vehicles and distributed energy storage systems, where the consequences of thermal runaway events can be devastating. Here we propose a novel approach to prevent battery thermal runaway by using La and Nb co-doped BaTiO₃. The material is incorporated into a battery system as a thin film, having no effects on the room temperature operation, but rapidly switching off the battery current at high temperatures due to the positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTCR) exhibited by doped BaTiO₃. La and Nb as co-dopants of BaTiO₃ are found to be critical to ensure good room temperature conductivity combined with a significant PTCR effect. This work demonstrates the use of a purely inorganic PTCR material for thermal runaway protection for the first time. The high mechanical and chemical stability of the BaTiO₃-based material proposed here makes it an advantageous competitor to current polymer-based protective switches.