--- title: Why solid-state batteries keep short-circuiting | daily.dev description: MIT researchers have discovered that dendrites in solid-state batteries grow due to chemical reactions rather than purely mechanical stress. Using... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-solid-state-batteries-keep-short-circuiting-cfbbdqznc twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why solid-state batteries keep short-circuiting | daily.dev og:description: MIT researchers have discovered that dendrites in solid-state batteries grow due to chemical reactions rather than purely mechanical stress. Using... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-solid-state-batteries-keep-short-circuiting-cfbbdqznc og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/CfbbDQzNc.png og:image:alt: Why solid-state batteries keep short-circuiting og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why solid-state batteries keep short-circuiting **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT researchers have discovered that dendrites in solid-state batteries grow due to chemical reactions rather than purely mechanical stress. Using birefringence microscopy to directly measure stress around growing dendrites, they found cracks form at stress levels as low as 25% of what mechanical stress alone would predict. High electrical currents cause chemical reactions that embrittle the electrolyte — reducing its toughness from something like a tooth to something as brittle as a lollipop. The findings, published in Nature, explain why building stronger electrolytes hasn't solved the dendrite problem and point toward the need for more chemically stable electrolyte materials to unlock the potential of high-energy-density solid-state batteries. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. 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