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Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), 16th of February 2023 The design of better batteries has gained a great deal of interest due to the increasing need of transitioning to a less fossil fuel dependent energy economy both at large (grid) and intermediate (vehicle) scale. Particularly, the use of operando (while the battery cell is working) synchrotron techniques has allowed to exploit its intrinsic advantages, including the direct access to the fundamental processes affecting the working materials under investigation.
In this perspective article, researchers from the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and the ALBA Synchrotron, led by M. Rosa Palacín (ICMAB-CSIC), discuss complementary state-of-the art operando techniques: X-ray scattering, to access the crystal and morphological structure, X-ray and infrared spectroscopy, which permits access chemical information and details of the local electronic and structural properties, and imaging, a technique that consists in capturing spatially-resolved images to investigate the processes involved at different scales.
The article, published in the journal Chemical Science and selected as pick of the Week by the journal, analyzed the downsides (or bottlenecks) of these operando techniques. From one side, authors stress the need of efficiently post-process the huge amount of data produced during operando or imaging experiments, thus of developing automated data analysis protocols. From the other, they underline the necessity of designing new battery cells which are still representative of real battery operation but that can be exploited for a multi-modal characterization to access complementary information.
Finally, they highlight the power of operando synchrotron-based tools in the field of battery research, enabling multiple resolutions and sensitivities to be exploited, despite the existing bottlenecks that will hopefully be mitigated in the future. Following the recent tendency, authors conclude further developments in these areas will continue to be achieved in the following years, which should in turn foster battery performance improvements.
Reference: Ashley P. Black, Andrea Sorrentino, François Fauth, Ibraheem Yousef, Laura Simonelli, Carlos Frontera, Alexandre Ponrouch, Dino Tonti and M. Rosa Palacín Synchrotron radiation based operando characterization of battery materials. Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D2SC04397A
Learn more about synchrotron light and batteries:
With the collaboration of Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología. The ALBA Synchrotron is part of the of the Unidades de Cultura Científica y de la Innovación (UCC+i) of the FECYT and has received support through the FCT-21-17088 project.
