WHY ARE BATTERIES CATCHING FIRE SO OFTEN?

Just two weeks after the launch of the Galaxy Note 7 phone, Samsung was forced to recall 2.5 million devices worldwide, after reports that many were overheating, or even exploding.

But why have batteries started catching fire so often?

Professor Richard Williams, Principal and Vice Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, says the root of the problem of exploding devices is what they are made of.

The story starts in the early 1990s with the arrival of lithium-ion batteries as a common feature in phones and other devices, he says. 

Lithium is a lightweight metallic element which is less toxic than previous battery materials such as cadmium or lead. 

Unlike earlier 'single use' batteries, they can normally be recharged thousands of times.

The other clever innovation in lithium-ions lies in the detailed compact structural design of the layered battery. 

The energy density that the cells can achieve has grown from 100 watt hours per kilo to 270 watt hours per kilo, which means you can have far more power in a smaller space.  

But with more energy comes more heat, and when things get hot inside a battery the packaging and physical space for expansion become increasingly critical. 

In the process, it looks as though insufficient consideration has been given to these heating issues, and that new products are emerging that have not been fully time-tested. 

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