A Review of Fire-Extinguishing Agents and Fire Suppression Strategies for Lithium-Ion Batteries Fire

The susceptibility of LIBs to fire and explosion under extreme conditions has become a significant challenge for large-scale application of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the suppression effect of fire-extinguishing agent on LIBs fire is still far from being satisfactory attributed to special combustion characteristics of LIBs fire. This manuscript provides a comprehensive review on the origin and behavior of LIBs fire, and the selection of the typical fire-extinguishing agents for LIBs. Novel fire suppression strategies are also discussed. Several agents such as liquid nitrogen, dodecafluoro-2-methylpentan-3-one (C6F12O) and water-based fire-extinguishing agents possess better fire-extinguishing and cooling capabilities. Unfortunately, there are some shortcomings that restrict their application. The ideal fire-extinguishing agents for LIBs should be both highly thermally conductive, highly electrically insulating, highly efficient in extinguishing LIBs fire, cheap, non-toxic, residue-free and toxic gases-absorbing. Some perspectives and outlooks are given that the combination of ideal fire-extinguishing agent and novel fire-extinguishing strategy can insure a high level of safety for present and future LIB-based technologies.Graphical Abstract