That'll make it a lot safer to put on planes since it should eliminate lithium ion fires that can't be put out. I don't think it'd stop batteries from exploding since crystallization of the electrode would still cause shorts which would surely create a lot of heat. Then again, if none of that heat converts to a gas, the pressure within the cell wouldn't change significantly.
My day job is tech director of a company developing a new type of solar cell. We use a similar chemistry to the display industry and also some materials used by the battery industry. In my experience of manufacturing, what is being published by universities and research groups will be at least 5 years away from production. Generally if they are putting things out into the public domain like this it’s to raise interest and funding. However, people like Samsung and Panasonic are notoriously secretive, they could be 6 months away from launching the ultimate non-exploding battery and we would never know, until they are ready to launch. With electric vehicle applications being so potentially lucrative you can be sure lots of groups are working hard at this problem.
My first thought after reading the article was if this works will it actually be used, followed by how much does it reduce capacity, and finally Tesla would probably be interested in it.
