TEM electron diffraction techniques in the field of energy storing: study of new phases and compounds for electrodes
- Abstract number
- 1471
- Event
- European Microscopy Congress 2020
- DOI
- 10.22443/rms.emc2020.1471
- Corresponding Email
- [email protected]
- Session
- PSA.4 - Batteries & Materials for Energy Conversion
- Authors
- Dr Francisco BONILLA (1), Agnieszka WIzner (1), Dr Marine Reynaud (1), Carlos BERLANGA (1), Dr Montserrat Galcerán (1)
- Affiliations
-
1. CIC energiGUNE
- Keywords
electron diffraction, energy storage, ETD, SAED
- Abstract text
In the field of batteries, which are widely used in home electronics, electric vehicles and store energy for the power grid, some of the main challenges focus in the development of electrode materials, improving their energy density, their sustainability and reducing their costs. More specifically, in a better understanding of the mechanisms of mobility of ions, electrode and electrolyte stability and the formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). It is known that such as aspects, together with the tendency to miniaturize the new technologies, are directly related to optimization of their composition and the understanding of their inner structure in the nanometer scale.
Structure analysis by X ray diffraction is one of the most important techniques for studying crystalline materials. On the other hand, the electron diffraction of single crystals has been exploited by the electron microscopy in order to study the ordering and microstructure of matter. Thus, advanced electron microscopy techniques such as electron diffraction TEM has been implemented as a complementary tool to the structure analysis done by X ray diffraction and by the atomic resolution imaging done by HRTEM.
In the electron microscopy service at CIC energiGUNE, TEM techniques are performed for visualizing in the nanometer scale various stages of the electrodes before, during and after cycling. Notably electron diffraction performed in a TEM is being implemented as a tool to study new phases and compounds developed as electrodes for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs).
In this work, with the aim to demonstrate the potential and versatility of the electron diffraction methods, we will present three cases of study. One will be the electron diffraction tomography (EDT) analysis done in polyanionic materials for SIBs, from this we have been able to determine the lattice parameters and the space group without previous outcomes from X-ray powder diffraction. Another case will be the corroboration of crystal structures previously determined by refinements on powder X-ray diffraction, this by carrying out selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns and HRTEM images along different zone of axis on single crystals of nitrogen-containing polyanionic compounds. Finally, by comparing different electron diffraction patterns of cathodes materials in the charged and discharged stages, it will be presented the correlation between microstructure and the composition in layered oxide materials for SIBs.