An operando spatially resolved study of alkaline battery discharge using a novel hyperspectral detector and X-ray tomography

DOI: 10.1107/S1600576720012078

Authors: Thomas Connolley (Diamond Light Source) , Oxana V. Magdysyuk (Diamond Light Source) , Stefan Michalik (Diamond Light Source) , Phoebe K. Allan (Diamond Light Source) , Manuela Klaus (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie) , Paul H. Kamm (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie) , Francisco Garcia-Moreno (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie) , Jennifer A. Nelson (Duracell Inc) , Matthew Veale (Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)) , Matthew Wilson (Science and Technology Facilities Council)
Co-authored by industrial partner: Yes

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Journal Of Applied Crystallography , VOL 53

State: Published (Approved)
Published: December 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 16771

Abstract: An experimental technique is described for the collection of time-resolved X-ray diffraction information from a complete commercial battery cell during discharging or charging cycles. The technique uses an 80 × 80 pixel 2D energy-discriminating detector in a pinhole camera geometry which can be used with a polychromatic X-ray source. The concept was proved in a synchrotron X-ray study of commercial alkaline Zn–MnO2 AA size cells. Importantly, no modification of the cell was required. The technique enabled spatial and temporal changes to be observed with a time resolution of 20 min (5 min of data collection with a 15 min wait between scans). Chemical changes in the cell determined from diffraction information were correlated with complementary X-ray tomography scans performed on similar cells from the same batch. The clearest results were for the spatial and temporal changes in the Zn anode. Spatially, there was a sequential transformation of Zn to ZnO in the direction from the separator towards the current collector. Temporally, it was possible to track the transformation of Zn to ZnO during the discharge and follow the corresponding changes in the cathode.

Journal Keywords: hyperspectral detector; AA batteries; X-ray diffraction; X-ray tomography

Diamond Keywords: Batteries

Subject Areas: Chemistry, Materials, Energy


Instruments: I12-JEEP: Joint Engineering, Environmental and Processing

Other Facilities: EDDI Beamline at BESSY-II

Added On: 19/10/2020 14:52

Documents:
iu5001.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Energy Storage Energy Physical Chemistry Energy Materials Chemistry Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Imaging Tomography