Advanced Characterisation of Batteries

Robust, accurate predictions of battery health and fate are essential for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, a key thrust in the UK's Industrial Strategy. Underlying these are the chemical and physical transformations that occur during cycling in Li-ion and chemistries such as Li-sulfur and Li-air. The project focuses on the development of advanced x-ray and neutron spectroscopies to probe changes in short, medium and long range order (A to m) during battery operation, combined with extensive ex-situ characterisation (e.g., XPS, Raman, FTIR, x-ray tomography) to gain mechanistic understanding of these processes. In particular we aim to:
- Design experimental cells to monitor x-ray/neutron scattering during cycling
- Develop techniques to obtain high quality data on dilute species/defects
- Interface with ex situ characterisation methods to correlate information with battery health
- Apply this platform to current and beyond Li-ion chemistries
These insights will improve our knowledge of how batteries operate over multiple length scales and hence, our predictive power in identifying and designing batteries with long cycle life.