Kanazawa University NanoLSI Podcast:Scanning probe simultaneously captures structural and ion concentration changes

Kanazawa University NanoLSI Podcast:Scanning probe simultaneously captures structural and ion concentration changes

Transcript of this podcast

 Hello and welcome to the NanoLSI podcast. Thank you for joining us today. In this episode we feature the latest research led by Yasufumi Takahashi and Takeshi Fukuma at the Kanazawa University NanoLSI.

 The research described in this podcast was published in the Journal of the American Chemistry Society Au in February 2023

 Kanazawa University NanoLSI website

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

Scanning probe simultaneously captures structural and ion concentration changes

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in the Journal of the American Chemistry Society Gold how they have developed operando  scanning ion conductance microscopy to allow simultaneous measurements of changes in the anode surface topography of a lithium ion battery during use, as well as the varying ion concentration with depth. Combining both types of information should help researchers evaluate the correlation between the two to design better batteries

Lithium ion batteries dominate the energy storage sector from the scale of small portable devices to electric vehicles and even grid-scale electricity suppliers. Research is constantly ongoing to improve their energy density, charging speed, lifetime and safety, among other attributes. Here an understanding of not just the changes that go on in lithium ion batteries but how different parameters might interact can be extremely advantageous. Now researchers led by Yasufumi Takahashi and Takeshi Fukuma at Kanazawa University in Japan report simultaneous measurements of topography and ion concentration profiles by developing their operando scanning ion conductance microscopy (operando SICM). The combined data they retrieve can enable evaluation of correlations between the two parameters for improving future battery performance.

So what sorts of processes in batteries might we want to shed light on?

As Takahashi and Fukuma list in their report on the work, several processes are involved in the charging and discharging of lithium batteries, including the transport, solvation or desolvation, and intercalation of lithium ions, as well as structural changes and expansion in the electrodes, and the formation and deposition of by-products. These all occur out of equilibrium under applied electric potentials. “Capturing such multi-step and time-dependent changes with a relevant spatiotemporal resolution enables optimizing the operating conditions,” they point out highlighting design features that might benefit such as the structure of electrodes and separator, and tailoring additives to ensure proper solid−electrolyte interphase formation. As a result, numerous techniques have been used to investigate how both the surface topography and the ion concentration of the anode or cathode change during charging or discharging, all with different limitations.

A key advantage of scanning ion conductance microscopy is that it can measure surface morphology and properties, including changes in ion concentration with depth in the electrolyte. Until now, however, no-one had retrieved simultaneous topographical and ion concentration data of a battery during charging and discharging.

So how does scanning ion conductance microscopy work anyway, and how did the researchers get it take both types of data simultaneously?

Scanning ion conductance microscopy uses a nanopipette containing an ionic solution as the scanning probe. The nanopipette acts as a probe and monitors changes in ion current from which it is possible to visualise ion concentrations as well as the distance to a surface. To take both measurements simultaneously, the researc

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