As the world lessens its dependence on fossil fuels, industries and manufacturers are turning to lithium-ion batteries to power the machines that make modern life possible. These batteries power electric vehicles, mobile phones, drones, vacuum cleaning robots and other machines and will be an essential component to the energy transition. But there's a problem with lithium-ion batteries: as they age and are charged, they develop dendrites. A research team is trying to solve the dendrite problem by investigating how these structures grow on batteries. Dendrites are spiky structures that accumulate on the batteries' anodes. These structures reduce the life of the batteries, hinder their ability to hold a charge and can short-circuit machines potentially causing safety hazards like battery fires.
