Fig. 4: Digging into the crystal structure and microstructure of battery electrodes.
From: Solid state chemistry for developing better metal-ion batteries
Progress in solid state electrochemistry have greatly benefit from establishing robust structural-electronic-electrochemical relationships via the prolific improvement of available diffraction, imaging and spectroscopic characterization techniques and enabling many of them to act in an operando/in situ mode. They target various local structural aspects (vacancies, defects, stacking faults, structure distortions) as well as chemical and electronic aspects. This figure should serve as a guide to the reader for selecting the most suitable type of measurements dealing with a specific problem regarding crystal structure, chemical bonding, electronic structure and composition (as exemplified with the layered rock-salt type oxides). The legend: SF stacking faults; SRL surface reconstruction layer; GB grain boundaries; HR-TEM: high resolution transmission electron microscopy; HAADF-STEM high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy; ABF-STEM annular bright field scanning transmission electron microscopy; iDPC integrated differential phase contrast; XPS X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; HAXPES hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; XANES X-ray absorption near edge structure; EELS electron energy loss spectroscopy; XRPD X-ray powder diffraction; NPD neutron powder diffraction; EDT electron diffraction tomography; SAED selected area electron diffraction; PDF pair distribution function analysis; RIXS resonant inelastic X-ray scattering; NMR: nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; SAXS, SANS: small angle X-ray/neutron scattering; XCT X-ray computed tomography; XRD-CT X-ray diffraction computed tomography. The techniques to probe atomic arrangement are shown in black, those targeting the electronic states and bonding are in red. The techniques in bold can be applied in situ or operando.
