Safety issue is main obstacle for commercialization of high energy density lithium-ion battery. Thermal runaway is the most crucial problem in battery safety research. In order to solve safety problem, a lot of efforts have been made in the research of battery thermal runaway mechanism, thermal stability test, simulation and modeling. Herein, this article provides a review on chemical reaction of thermal runaway and the development of thermal simulation research on lithium battery. Thermal runaway are mainly divided into four types according to reaction mechanism, having different heat-generating behaviors. Researchers can reduce the cost and time of experiments through modelling of lithium-ion batteries, analyze the key factors of the thermal runaway during charge/discharge process, and improve the structural design and safety of the batteries. Finally, the review prospects the further development of nextgeneration lithiumion batteries.

Safety issue is the main obstacle for the commercialization of lithium ion batteries, which include smoke, fire and even explosion caused by thermal runaway or other extreme conditions. In order to reduce the hazards of safety issue, numerous modeling work have been proposed for lithium ion batteries to analyze the thermal behavior and thermal runaway mechanism over the past years. Herein, this review is concerned with the development of thermal modeling on lithium ion batteries. The thermal models have been developed to study the temperature distribution of battery and the relationship between thermal behavior and the reactions inside battery under different working conditions. They could accurately predict batteries' performance and thermal runaway occurrence by analyzing modeling data, providing reliable information for the design and management of batteries. Finally, some perspectives of safety for lithium ion battery are proposed for further development.