Microscopy for Materials Research: Batteries and Other Energy Materials

Showcasing the latest innovations in microscopy | INFORM on demand

So much attention is paid to battery integration and battery management, but these are only part of the story of the energy revolution. Innovation and scale-up are needed in all the component parts: what will be the perfect combination of cathode, anode, electrolyte, separator, and binder material? The pace of research and development, and commercialisation of new battery technologies is rapid, driving safer, higher capacity, faster charging, and longer living batteries. To do this, the researcher has at their disposal a plethora of imaging, analytical and computational techniques in modern light, electron, X-ray and ion microscopy. How do we truly understand them by imaging and characterising them in high resolution in 2D and 3D?

Advances in microscopy allow us to image and understand these materials, their physical properties, structural and chemical changes during charging and discharging, degradation mechanisms, and the interactions between layers.  And at the end of life, we can understand the composition and chemistry of black mass, facilitating the circular economy.

In so doing, we build a picture of the grains, interfaces, particles, and pores in the many components of a battery assembly, to truly advance energy materials science.