Crystalline phase analysis of lithium ion battery electrode materials

Introduction

Modern batteries like Li-ion have revolutionized our day to day life from smart mobile devices to pollution free electric cars and intelligent power management solutions. Batteries also hold the potential to being economical alternatives for mass energy storage to compliment renewable energy resources for power grid applications. Despite these successes, gaps in the battery technology remain in terms of safety as well as performance. Many new materials and battery chemistries are in research and development phase to enhance the energy density, discharge capacity and safety of new generation batteries. Electrodes used in Li-ion batteries have a defining influence on their electrochemical performance and are typically manufactured by coating a metal foil substrate with a multicomponent slurry made up of active electrode particles and conductive additives suspended in a binder solution. Primary particle size and crystalline phases of electrode materials play a significant role in the diffusion of Li-ions and impact key battery performance parameters such as ion transfer rate and battery recharge time. Crystalline phase can broadly be characterized in terms of phase composition and crystallite size.