Feasibility Study of Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction and Absorption Spectroscopy for the Characterisation of NMC oxides for Li-ion Battery Cathodes (original) (raw)

In lithium-transition metal oxide materials, e.g. those known as nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides, or NMC, used as active materials for battery cathodes, local distortions of the host crystal lattice during Li intercalation provide key information for understanding the origins of ageing and capacity fading. To enable the detailed characterisation of these lattice distortions, we consider the combination of advanced synchrotron-based techniques, namely, X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Rietveld refinement for precise determination of unit cell parameters and atomic positions, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) that allows studying the oxidation state and the local environment of Mn, Ni and Co atoms. Our objective is to establish the use of this combination of techniques in transmission mode through a specially modified in situ coin cell that incorporates windows to enable measurements through batteries subjected to in situ cycling.