Long Duration Studies of Lithium Battery Materials Using Synchrotron X-Ray Powder Diffration

Abstract

The use of in-situ X-Ray Powder diffraction for the study of new battery materials has grown in recent years, providing an insight into the effects that charge/discharges cycles have on cathode materials. These experiments are often limited to short periods of time and therefore only allow for one full charge/discharge cycle/multiple fast cycles to be observed. The result is that material characteristics may be well understood for the first cycle but little is known about the long term processes that ultimately lead to failure of the cell over longer timescales. The Long Duration Experiment (LDE) Facility on Beamline I11 at Diamond Light Source is the first of its kind, housing experiments that require periodic, in-situ monitoring over periods of months to years. It is an ideal facility for the long term study of battery materials, allowing data to be collected over many cycles. To conduct these experiments a new cell had to be developed that would allow the transmission of X-rays, while also remaining impermeable to air and moisture for a long period of time. Previous in-situ diffraction experiments of battery materials have generally involved using unconventional cells. While these are effective, they are often not stable for long periods of time and are not true representations of real-life battery systems. By modifying a standard CR2032 coin cell case, we have been able to produce a cell that fits this purpose. Laser thinning was used to reduce the thickness of a small section of the cell to 50μm, allowing sufficient X-ray transmission without compromising the integrity of the cell.