How Do Lithium-Ion Batteries Work?

This week Reactions brings you the chemistry on how to make your smartphone's battery last longer. There's a lot of science behind those lithium ion-batteries in the latest generation of phones. But like most new generations of smartphones, its battery has pretty much stayed the same over the years. Short of carrying an external battery all the time, is there any way to extend the life of your smartphone battery? How does heat affect your battery? What causes them to become unstable? In the latest Reactions episode, we explain the chemistry of lithium-ion batteries, why they occasionally explode, and share some tips to get the most from that smartphone battery.

Find us on all these places:

LA Funk - Cragkeys
Owl Services - MTWMusic
Touch Me - Pure Nature

Producer:
Elaine Seward

Writer:
Megan Cartwright

Executive Producer:
Adam Dylewski

Scientific consultants:
Danielle Buckley, Ph.D.
Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D.

Sources:

Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others' butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it's OK to pee in the pool? We've got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day.

Reactions is produced by the American Chemical Society.

[ACSReactions]

Hey everyone thanks for watching. Just a little FYI that if you have a new Samsung that is on the recall list you need to do that ASAP. Nothing causing thermal runaway and an explosion of the battery faster than a design flaw.

[MindCraftYou]

Please just say tips instead of hacks. Informative video though. Guess I'm not taking my phone in the sauna anymore!

[xzombiesx]

im watching this when my phones battery is 2%

[nachozombiekilla]

If I'm suffering from heat exhaustion in the desert, can I break my phone battery and drink the electrolytes?

[Cdps]

So..
*Don't bring your phone to your daily volcano sightseeing/walk.
*Charge your phone before it dies (nobody likes funerals)
* Don't turn off your phone for longer periods of time (a couple of months or more) if it doesn't have more than 50% battery and remember to turn it on at least once every 6 months (like any of can actually survive without your phone for longer than 6 days)..
*cough* I meant 6 hours

[bobfl]

I think one of the problems is people get confused with battery chemistry. People are still applying the rules fot NiCd & Ni-MH even though that chemistry has not been used in phones for years.Some of the problem is in the stores who still tell customers to charge the battery for 15 hrs before using. If people stuck to road rules like they do old battery rules we would have no road accidents.

[BIGBWAR]

My phone is 8% and got this notification

[CaliToys]

Very good video, the quality is very good too, bravo

[rilesmattix]

if you say the obvious, like turn down your screen brightness and turn on battery saver, im done.

[shellieroman]

Finally a video about making the battery last instead of all the videos that say that in the title but are actually about making the charge last

[VJETRA]

Step1: Root your phone
2: download gameguardian
3: hack your battery to 999, 999, 999
done

[kinshukbanerjee]

Excellent explanation of a difficult concept. Thanks a lot 🙏

[joannebymm]

lots of good information on the lithium battery in the smart phone. very impressive

[TheTerminator]

Didn't know that about lithium batteries. Great vid thx!

[rgruenhaus]

I found my Galaxy S9 plus case was EXPANDING on the lower left as I'm facing the screen and I get the feeling it's the adhesive melting in that corner maybe from the battery heating up, but I never feel much heat from it. My phone is always in a wallet case. Could this be expansion of the battery and in need of a new battery or just the adhesive letting go? My phone is 2 years old! Never had any battery problems with keeping a charge! Is my battery a li-ion?

[mynameisgrade]

IPhone x. We took out 3.5mm audio and the home button its very evolutionarily awesome... Why not make thermal layered lithium ion battery and or make batteries much more powerful

[iri]

My phone not only dies quick but it also dies at around 30-45%. Any tips?

[zmedas]

Excellent video, thank you for the 411!

[mukesh]

If daily drive of EV car is 40% SoC then do i drive for 2 days and take the SoC till 20% and then do full charge or do i charge daily from 40% to 100% SoC? Which option do you suggest for longer battery life?

[YeeJoon]

I'm charging it right now. How higher current affect the process?