How XRD can help to put more juice in sustainable battery development

by Umesh Tiwari, Friday, 14th April 2023

How is a human like a battery? In both cases, a healthy cycling habit could have a positive impact on lifetime performance. But just as our bodies can suffer if we put too much energy into our exercise, so can high-energy-density battery materials degrade during charge-discharge cycling.

It’s one of the biggest challenges facing battery development: how to deliver the high-performance lithium-ion cells we need in order to achieve the sustainability transition of today and tomorrow, minimizing the aging of battery materials and preventing the kind of degradation that will put limits on their applications.

The importance of fully charged insights

So: what causes this degradation and, perhaps more importantly, how can we prevent it? From lithium plating and particle cracking to lithium retention in electrodes and electrolyte degradation, dendrite formation, and more, there are numerous charge-cycle-related factors that can negatively impact battery performance. And let’s not forget the role of temperature: generated either by the cycling itself or by changes in the environment, heat also plays a key role in battery degradation. To begin tackling all these problems, it’s first essential for cell researchers and developers to understand what’s going on inside their battery, whether it’s a coin, electrochemical, pouch, or prismatic cell.

With X-ray diffraction (XRD) – or to be precise, in-operando XRD – the analysis you need is well within reach. This technique can be used to investigate the atomic-level changes taking place in the crystal structure of electrode materials during battery cycling. These critical insights make it possible to determine the stability of a battery’s performance over multiple charge cycles.

Empyrean XRD for non-ambient, in-operando analysis

Time for the Empyrean XRD to step up to the (battery) plate. Our third-generation diffractometer helps you gain a better understanding of everything from component phase purity to the crystallite size of anode and cathode compounds. The Empyrean XRD delivers high-quality results from in-situ and in-operando measurements and, thanks to its non-ambient functionality, enables crucial insights into the effects of different cycling temperatures on battery performance.

Combined with our HighScore Plus software package, Malvern Panalytical’s versatile Empyrean XRD delivers full data visualization and automated analysis. It’s a powerful platform for anyone working in battery applications and cell degradation – and the ideal instrument to help break the cycle of battery degradation!

Is your curiosity all powered up? Register now for our upcoming webinar, “Non-ambient in-operando XRD platform on lithium-ion batteries: Boosting the development of battery materials”!

Further reading