Stories of Discovery & Innovation: Preventing Laptop Fires and Thermal Runaway

Researchers point to “self-healing” materials as a potential means of improving lithium ion battery safety. This work, featured in the Office of Science’s Stories of Discovery & Innovation, was supported in part by the Center for Electrical Energy Storage (CEES), an EFRC led by Michael Thackeray at Argonne National Laboratory.

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Applying a voltage to lanthanum strontium manganite (LSMO) can cause it to separate into distinct regions with dramatically different magnetic properties, as illustrated by the red and blue colors in the above figure.

Tuning Magnetism With Voltage Opens a New Path to Neuromorphic Circuits

Experiments show that applied voltage can dramatically alter the magnetic properties of quantum materials.

A metallic line atop a medium biased at the edge of chaos can provide effective negative resistance for time-varying signals, outputting a larger signal compared to its input. The energy for amplification comes from the static bias applied to the medium.

The “Edge of Chaos” Amplifies Signals Without Transistors

Emulating the edge of chaos of axons enables a metal wire to overcome its resistance without cooling, thereby amplifying signals flowing inside of it.