Authors: Andreas Østergaard Drejer (a), Daniel Risskov Sørensen (a,b), Michael Heere (b), and Dorthe Bomholdt Ravnsbæk (a)
Title: A new operando cell for neutron diffraction on Li-ion battery material
Affiliation: (a) Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, (b) Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Technische Universität München
Abstract
The use of operando diffraction has taken a major step forward, in no small part due to the increase in flux at large scale facilities such as synchrotrons and neutron spallation sources. While X-rays are absorbed by typical battery casings, which necessitates special designed cells, neutrons have a penetration depth large enough to probe the entirety of a battery cell. This has allowed measurements directly on commercial batteries, giving unique insights into the evolution of cell parameters and composition of the cathode and anode phase, but also showing Li-consumption by decomposition of the electrolyte and plating of lithium metal. In this work, we develop a new operando neutron diffraction battery cell, which allows easy measurement on a variety of different non-commercial cathode materials. The cell uses a Zr/Ti-alloy with negligible scattering strength to eliminate contributions from the casing. We present data on from the cell on the electrode materials LiFePO4 and LiVPO4F.