Flavio Cognigni (1), Mauro Pasquali (1) (2), Pier Paolo Prosini (1), Claudia Paoletti (3), Annalisa Aurora (3), Francesca Anna Scaramuzzo (3), Marco Rossi (1) (2)
ChemElectroChem. Volume 10, Issue 7 (3 February 2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202201081

Keywords

Batteries, energy conversion, energy transfer, failure analysis, X-ray microscopy

Abstract

X-ray microscopy (XRM) is a non-destructive characterization technique that provides quantitative information regarding the morphology/composition of the specimen and allows to perform multiscale and multimodal 2D/3D experiments exploiting the radiation-matter interactions. XRM is particularly suitable to afford in situ images of inner parts of a battery and for the early diagnosis of its degradation in a non-invasive way. Since traditional characterization techniques (SEM, AFM, XRD) often require the removal of a component from the encapsulated device that may lead to non-desired contamination of the sample, the non-destructive multi-scale potential of XRM represents an important improvement to batteries investigation. In this work, we present the advanced technical features that characterize a sub-micron X-ray microscopy system, its use for the investigation of hidden and internal structures of different types of batteries and to understand their behavior and evolution after many charge/discharge cycles.

How Our Software Was Used

The image processing and 3D modeling investigation was performed using Dragonfly Pro.

Author Affiliation

(1) Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering (SBAI), University of Rome LA SAPIENZA, Via Antonio Scarpa 14, 00161 Rome, Italy
(2) Research Center on Nanotechnology Applied to Engineering (CNIS), University of Rome LA SAPIENZA, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
(3) Department of Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources, C.R. ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy