TY - JOUR A1 - Leonhardt, Robert A1 - Böttcher, Nils A1 - Dayani, Shahab A1 - Rieck, Arielle A1 - Markötter, Henning A1 - Schmidt, Anita A1 - Kowal, Julia A1 - Tichter, Tim A1 - Krug von Nidda, Jonas T1 - Exploring the electrochemical and physical stability of lithium-ion cells exposed to liquid nitrogen N2 - The transport and storage of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries — damaged or in an undefined state — is a major safety concern for regulatory institutions, transportation companies, and manufacturers. Since (electro)chemical reactivity is exponentially temperature-dependent, cooling such batteries is an obvious measure for increasing their safety. The present study explores the effect of cryogenic freezing on the electrochemical and physical stability of Li-ion cells. For this purpose, three different types of cells were repeatedly exposed to liquid nitrogen (LN2). Before and after each cooling cycle, electrical and electrochemical measurements were conducted to assess the impact of the individual freezing steps. While the electrochemical behavior of the cells did not change significantly upon exposure to LN2 , it became apparent that a non-negligible number of cells suffered from physical changes (swelling) and functional failures. The latter defect was found to be caused by the current interrupt device of the cylindrical cells. This safety mechanism is triggered by the overpressure of expanding nitrogen which enters the cells at cryogenic temperatures. This study underlines that the widely accepted reversibility of LN2 -cooling on a material scale does not allow for a direct extrapolation toward the physical integrity of full cells. Since nitrogen enters the cell at cryogenic temperatures and expands upon rethermalization, it can cause an internal overpressure. This can, in turn, lead to mechanical damage to the cell. Consequently, a more appropriate temperature condition — less extreme than direct LN2 exposure — needs to be found KW - Lithium-ion battery KW - LN2 cooling KW - Battery characterization PY - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-599248 VL - 89 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-59924 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -