Rechargeable batteries are crucial for energy storage that underpins the advancement of consumer electronics and automobile propulsion technologies and further become an essential enabling technology for climate neutrality due to their capability to integrate renewable energy resources into viable power-grid applications. Despite the great success in the commercial market, Li-ion batteries are still insufficient to meet the ever-growing energy demand for improved energy density, lifetime, and safety in large-scale and power-intensive devices, calling for alternative beyond-Li technologies. Therefore, fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationship of new battery materials with novel structures is critically needed. Specifically, in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has gained fast progress in the past decade and been widely used to carry out the spatiotemporal characterization of materials transformation during electrochemical reactions, which can be further combined with theoretical modeling to offer insightful information as guiding principles for the design and development of beyond Li-ion batteries.<br/>Here, we report the systematic applications of in situ TEM for comparative studies of anode materials used for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (NIBs). These in situ TEM case studies focus on electrode materials with three different reaction mechanisms, i.e., intercalation, alloying, and conversion, as well as their combinations, particularly focusing on cubic oxides and layered 2D materials. By comparison between electrochemical reactions with Li and Na, we found that reaction mechanism, reaction pathway, and reaction kinetics may be largely different between the corresponding lithiation and sodiation processes, which may stem from various factors, such as ionic diffusion barrier, electrochemically-induced stress, and geometric constraint. The comparative investigation of electrode materials in LIBs and NIBs provides valuable insights into understanding the alkali-ion electrochemistry and kinetics that can be further leveraged as design principles for the development of beyond Li-ion battery technologies.

Towards beyond lithium-ion batteries: New insights from in situ electron microscopy

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.