Lithium-ion battery fires of the kind that blew a $5.2 billion hole at Samsung could be a thing of the past. Researchers at Stanford University have announced the development of a fire extinguisher inside a battery that could put out fires in less than a second.

Battery explosion and fire
Key to fighting the battery explosion and fire, notably reported in Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones last year, is a fire-extinguishing material called triphenyl phosphate (TPP).
The flame retardant material is placed in a separate shell within the battery. When the temperature reaches 150C (302F), the shell...

