Operando liquid-electrochemical microscopy reveals the origin of Li charging and discharging of battery primary particles
Hummingbird Scientific supported and collaborated in a study lead by Stanford University in which LixFePO4 battery material particles were charged and discharged in-situ while recording the special charge state using STXM (Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy) at Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source. This data showed that spatial heterogeneities in reaction rates account for domains with the charging process significantly less uniform than the discharging process. These results highlight the crucial role of surface reaction rate for lithiation, observing these inconsistencies of ion insertion have implications for electrode engineering and battery management for future generation battery technology.
Video: LixFePO4 battery material particles are shown here charging (red to green) and discharging (green to red) in-situ in the X-ray liquid-electrochemical cell. The video shows regions of faster and slower charge.
Video Copyright © 2016 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Reference: Lim et al. Science 2016, 1353 (6299), pp. 566-571. Full Paper