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Redox-driven phase transformations in solids determine the performance of lithium-ion batteries, crucial in the technological transition from fossil fuels. Couplings between chemistry and strain define reversibility and fatigue of an electrode. The accurate definition of all phases in the transformation, their energetics, and nanoscale location within a particle produces fundamental understanding of these couplings needed to design materials with ultimate performance. Here we demonstrate that scanning X-ray diffraction microscopy (SXDM) extends our ability to image battery processes in single particles. In LiFePO4 crystals equilibrated after delithiation, SXDM revealed the existence of domains of miscibility between LiFePO4 and Li0.6FePO4. These solid solutions are conventionally thought to be metastable, and were previously undetected by spectromicroscopy. The observation provides experimental verification of predictions that the LiFePO4–FePO4 phase diagram can be altered by coherency strain under certai...

The performance of battery electrode materials is strongly affected by inefficiencies in utilization kinetics and cycle life as well as size effects. Observations of phase transformations in these materials with high chemical and spatial resolution can elucidate the relationship between chemical processes and mechanical degradation. Soft X-ray ptychographic microscopy combined with X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron microscopy creates a powerful suite of tools that we use to assess the chemical and morphological changes in lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) micro- and nanocrystals that occur upon delithiation. All sizes of partly delithiated crystals were found to contain two phases with a complex correlation between crystallographic orientation and phase distribution. However, the lattice mismatch between LiFePO4 and FePO4 led to severe fracturing on microcrystals, whereas no mechanical damage was observed in nanoplates, indicating that mechanics are a principal driver in the outstanding electrode ...

Redox-driven phase transformations in solids determine the performance of lithium-ion batteries, crucial in the technological transition from fossil fuels. Couplings between chemistry and strain define reversibility and fatigue of an electrode. The accurate definition of all phases in the transformation, their energetics, and nanoscale location within a particle produces fundamental understanding of these couplings needed to design materials with ultimate performance. Here we demonstrate that scanning X-ray diffraction microscopy (SXDM) extends our ability to image battery processes in single particles. In LiFePO

Inhomogeneous Li intercalation and localized concentration reversal in nanoparticles are investigated on a nanometer scale., Nanoparticulate electrodes, such as LixFePO4, have unique advantages over their microparticulate counterparts for the applications in Li-ion batteries because of the shortened diffusion path and access to nonequilibrium routes for fast Li incorporation, thus radically boosting power density of the electrodes. However, how Li intercalation occurs locally in a single nanoparticle of such materials remains unresolved because real-time observation at such a fine scale is still lacking. We report visualization of local Li intercalation via solid-solution transformation in individual LixFePO4 nanoparticles, enabled by probing sub-angstrom changes in the lattice spacing in situ. The real-time observation reveals inhomogeneous intercalation, accompanied with an unexpected reversal of Li concentration at the nanometer scale. The origin of the reversal phenomenon is elucidated through phase-field simulations, and it is attributed to the presence of structurally different regions that have distinct chemical potential functions. The findings from this study provide a new perspective on the local intercalation dynamics in battery electrodes.

International audience; Olivine-type LiCoPO4 (LCP) is a high energy density lithium ion battery cathode material due to the high voltage of the Co2+/Co3+ redox reaction. However, it displays a significantly poorer electrochemical performance than its more widely investigated isostructural analogue LiFePO4 (LFP). The co-substituted LiFexCo1-xPO4 olivines combine many of the positive attributes of each end member compound and are promising next-generation cathode materials. Here, the fully lithiated x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 samples are extensively studied using P-31 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Practical approaches to broadband excitation and for the resolution of the isotropic resonances are described. First principles hybrid density functional calculations are performed on the Fermi contact shift (FCS) contributions of individual M-O-P pathways in the end members LFP and LCP and compared with the fitted values extracted from the LiFexCo1-xPO4 experimental data. Combining both data sets, the FCS for the range of local P environments expected in LiFexCo1-xPO4 have been calculated and used to assign the NMR spectra. Due to the additional unpaired electron in d(6) Fe2+ as compared with d(7) Co2+ (both high spin), LFP is expected to have larger Fermi contact shifts than LCP. However, two of the Co-O-P pathways in LCP give rise to noticeably larger shifts and the unexpected appearance of peaks outside the range delimited by the pure LFP and LCP P-31 shifts. This behaviour contrasts with that observed previously in LiFexMn1-xPO4, where all P-31 shifts lay within the LiMnPO4-LFP range. Although there are 24 distinct local P environments in LiFexCo1-xPO4, these group into seven resonances in the NMR spectra, due to significant overlap of the isotropic shifts. The local environments that give rise to the largest contributions to the spectral intensity are identified and used to simplify the assignment. This provides a tool for future studies of the electrochemically-cycled samples, which would otherwise be challenging to interpret.

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of paramagnetic samples has the potential to provide a detailed insight into the environments and processes occurring in a wide range of technologically-relevant phases, but the acquisition and interpretation of spectra is typically not straightforward. Structural complexity and/or the occurrence of charge or orbital ordering further compound such difficulties. In response to such challenges, the present article outlines how the total Fermi contact (FC) shifts of NMR observed centers (OCs) may be decomposed into sets of pairwise metal–OC bond pathway contributions via solid-state hybrid density functional theory calculations. A generally applicable “spin flipping” approach is outlined wherein bond pathway contributions are obtained by the reversal of spin moments at selected metal sites. The applications of such pathway contributions in interpreting the NMR spectra of structurally and electronically complex phases are demonstrated in a range of paramagnetic Li-...

Battery function is determined by the efficiency and reversibility of the electrochemical phase transformations at solid electrodes. The microscopic tools available to study the chemical states of matter with the required spatial resolution and chemical specificity are intrinsically limited when studying complex architectures by their reliance on two-dimensional projections of thick material. Here, we report the development of soft X-ray ptychographic tomography, which resolves chemical states in three dimensions at 11 nm spatial resolution. We study an ensemble of nano-plates of lithium iron phosphate extracted from a battery electrode at 50% state of charge. Using a set of nanoscale tomograms, we quantify the electrochemical state and resolve phase boundaries throughout the volume of individual nanoparticles. These observations reveal multiple reaction points, intra-particle heterogeneity, and size effects that highlight the importance of multi-dimensional analytical tools in providing novel insight to the design of the next generation of high-performance devices., Here the authors show the development of soft X-ray ptychographic tomography to quantify the electrochemical state and resolve phase boundaries throughout the volume of individual nano-particles from a composite battery electrode.

The performance of battery electrode materials is strongly affected by inefficiencies in utilization kinetics and cycle life as well as size effects. Observations of phase transformations in these materials with high chemical and spatial resolution can elucidate the relationship between chemical processes and mechanical degradation. Soft X-ray ptychographic microscopy combined with X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron microscopy creates a powerful suite of tools that we use to assess the chemical and morphological changes in lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) micro- and nanocrystals that occur upon delithiation. All sizes of partly delithiated crystals were found to contain two phases with a complex correlation between crystallographic orientation and phase distribution. However, the lattice mismatch between LiFePO4 and FePO4 led to severe fracturing on microcrystals, whereas no mechanical damage was observed in nanoplates, indicating that mechanics are a principal driver in the outstanding electrode performance of LiFePO4 nanoparticles. These results demonstrate the importance of engineering the active electrode material in next generation electrical energy storage systems, which will achieve theoretical limits of energy density and extended stability. This work establishes soft X-ray ptychographic chemical imaging as an essential tool to build comprehensive relationships between mechanics and chemistry that guide this engineering design.

The absence of a phase transformation involving substantial structural rearrangements and large volume changes is generally considered to be a key characteristic underpinning the high-rate capability of any battery electrode material. In apparent contradiction, nanoparticulate LiFePO4, a commercially important cathode material, displays exceptionally high rates, whereas its lithium-composition phase diagram indicates that it should react via a kinetically limited, two-phase nucleation and growth process. Knowledge concerning the equilibrium phases is therefore insufficient, and direct investigation of the dynamic process is required. Using time-resolved in situ x-ray powder diffraction, we reveal the existence of a continuous metastable solid solution phase during rapid lithium extraction and insertion. This nonequilibrium facile phase transformation route provides a mechanism for realizing high-rate capability of electrode materials that operate via two-phase reactions.

Watching battery materials in action When batteries get rapidly charged and discharged repeatedly, they will often stop working. This is especially true when the cycling changes the crystal structure of the battery components. Liu et al. examined the structural changes in components of a type of lithium battery (see the Perspective by Owen and Hector). Their findings explain why LiFePO 4 delivers unexpectedly good electrochemical performances, particularly during rapid cycling. Science , this issue p. 10.1126/science.1252817 ; see also p. 1451

International audience; Substituted lithium transition-metal (TM) phosphate LiFexMn1-xPO4, materials with olivine-type structures are among the most promising next generation lithium ion battery cathodes. However, a complete atomic-level description of the structure of such phases is not yet available. Here, a combined experimental and theoretical approach to the detailed assignment of the P-31 NMR spectra of the LiFexMn1-xPO4 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) pure and mixed TM phosphates is developed and applied. Key to the present work is the development of a new NMR experiment enabling the characterization of complex paramagnetic materials via the complete separation of the individual isotropic chemical shifts, along with solid-state hybrid DFT calculations providing the separate hyperfine contributions of all distinct Mn-O-P and Fe-O-P bond pathways. The NMR experiment, referred to as aMAT, makes use of short high-powered adiabatic pulses (SHAPs), which can achieve 100% inversion over a range of isotropic shifts on the order of 1 MHz and with anisotropies greater than 100 kHz. In addition to complete spectral assignments of the mixed phases, the present study provides a detailed insight into the differences in electronic structure driving the variations in hyperfine parameters across the range of materials. A simple model delimiting the effects of distortions due to Mn/Fe substitution is also proposed and applied. The combined approach has clear future applications to TM-bearing battery cathode phases in particular and for the understanding of complex paramagnetic phases in general.

Variation of water content in liquid-assisted grinding was utilised to mechanochemically screen for different hydrated forms of magnesium naproxen directly from a mixture of magnesium oxide and naproxen. Structure determination from powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction data, supported by solid-state NMR and synchrotron radiation diffraction experiments, revealed a monohydrate coordination polymer, a discrete tetrahydrate complex, and provided a preliminary structural model for a highly hydrated salt.

The mechanism of the room-temperature synthesis of coordination polymers from ZnO by liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) was investigated, and using catalytic amounts of water allowed us to extend the scope of this synthetic method to copper compounds. The mechanochemical synthesis of model compounds zinc fumarate and copper(II) acetate proceeds through a stepwise mechanism which involves the intermediate formation of solvates with water (in the case of zinc fumarate) or acetic acid (in the case of copper(II) acetate) as kinetic products. The course of zinc fumarate LAG synthesis was explored using three different types of grinding liquids: water, aqueous organic solvents and pure organic solvents. With liquid water, the formation of the kinetic product switches the reaction mechanism from LAG to a neat grinding process. As a result, the reaction scope is limited to either the tetrahydrate or the pentahydrate as the major products. In contrast, the use of aqueous organic solvents as grinding liquids allows the selective synthesis as well as screening for different hydrated and anhydrous forms of zinc fumarate. Different polymorphs of the zinc fumarate coordination polymer can be obtained by changing the organic liquid. As a first step towards the quantitative understanding of how the liquid phase directs LAG mechanosynthesis, we demonstrate that product formation is regulated by the mole fraction and activity of water in the grinding liquid.

A fundamental understanding of an electrode material requires the elucidation of its phase transformation mechanism during charge and discharge. Ex situ methods, which are carried out under equilibrium condition, have been widely used in charactering the thermodynamic phases at different states of charge, from which a thermodynamic phase transformation pathway can be constructed. However, ex situ measurements do not always reflect the process occurred in an operating battery as the non-equilibrium operating condition might result in deviations from the thermodynamic process, especially for high-rate materials, such as LiFePO4, which is predicted to exhibit a fundamentally different phase transformation process at high rates [1,2]. To probe the process at high rate, an in situ method with reasonable temporal resolution must be employed. In this work, the high rate galvanostatic cycling process of LiFePO4 nanoparticle electrode in a customised AMPIX cell [3] was investigated in situ by time-resolved synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. Formation of continuous non-equilibrium solid solution phases between LiFePO4 and FePO4 was observed at 10 C rate. The in situ diffraction patterns were analysed by a refinement strategy that accounts for the asymmetrical diffraction peak profiles due to Li composition variations.

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Liquid-assisted grinding allows the rapid, waste-free and one-pot synthesis of a variety of magnesium drug derivatives directly from the excipient MgO; such reactivity is relevant for the behaviour of ibuprofen formulations involving MgO and can be used for oxide-based mechanosynthesis of metal-organic salts, discrete complexes and carboxylate clusters involving magnesium and pharmaceutically active ingredients.