The efficiency and toxicity of dodecafluoro-2-methylpentan-3-one in suppressing lithium-ion battery fire

Currently, the effective and clean suppression of lithium-ion battery (LIB) fires remains a challenge. The present work investigates the use of various inhibitor doses (X-in) of dodecafluoro-2-methylpentan-3-one (C6F12O) in 300 Ah LIBs, and systematically examines the thermal and toxic hazards of the extinguished batteries via real scale combustion and gas analysis. The inhibitor is shown to be completely effective. The inhibition mechanism involves a combination of chemical inhibition and physical cooling. While the chemical inhibition effect tends to saturate with increasing X-in, the physical cooling remains effective at higher inhibitor doses. However, extinguishing the battery fire with a high X-in of C6F12O is found to incur serious toxicity problems. These results are expected to provide a guideline for the design of inhibitor doses for the suppression of LIB fires. (C) 2021 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study found that dodecafluoro-2-methylpentan-3-one (C6F12O) is effective in suppressing lithium-ion battery fires, with a mechanism involving both chemical inhibition and physical cooling. However, high doses of C6F12O may result in serious toxicity issues.