Fig. 4: The cross-sections of the reconstructed strain and displacement field in the xz plane at different depths of discharge. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: The cross-sections of the reconstructed strain and displacement field in the xz plane at different depths of discharge.

From: Operando real-space imaging of a structural phase transformation in the high-voltage electrode LixNi0.5Mn1.5O4

Fig. 4

a Three-dimensional representation of the LixNi0.5Mn1.5O4 particle aligned at the same angle as in Fig. 2 but with two slices taken along a different direction. be Reconstructed strain (top) and lattice displacement (bottom) maps. b Prior to the phase transformation, the strain map corresponds to a fully charged Li-poor phase. The false color in the phase maps reflects the displacement from the ideal lattice at each position; a displacement of 2π corresponds to the (111) lattice spacing. c At the early stage of the phase transformation, the Li-rich phase (enclosed by the rectangle) nucleates at the lower right corner, leading to an intensified color gradient within the rectangle. Both xz slices in (b) and (c) are located at y1 in (a), 170 nm away from the center of the particle where the discharged phase starts to nucleate. d During the phase transformation, the nucleated Li-rich phase forms a semi-coherent interface with the Li-poor phase (outlined by the rectangle), which contains an array of dislocations each circled in the phase map. The dislocations run into the page, and the semi-coherent interface propagates along the negative x-direction. e At the end of phase transformation, the strain map shows the Li-rich phase with no observable signs of dislocations in the phase map. The xz slices in (d) and (e) are located at y2 in (a), at the center of the particle. The scattering vector, Q111, points along the z-axis.

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