New published paper highlighting the importance of collaborative metrology in battery characterisation

Collaboration with European partner national measurement institutes, universities and businesses has culminated in the development of novel methods to access the structure and function of battery materials. These projects are described on our web pages (OpMetBat and HyMetBat). We have developed new ways of probing battery chemistries and their performance in the form of individual anode, cathode, electrolytes, spacers, and other construction materials, and importantly as whole assembled cells! Using X-rays, and neutrons, we can characterise the material’s crystalline and amorphous structure, their chemistry and local atomic order. But, our new tools allows us to also monitor the cell performance, such as its ability to charge and discharge effectively, how much charge it can store, and potentially how long will it last in service. This paper describes some of these new capabilities, which now exist within the partner’s labs, and additionally explores some novel atomistic calculations that can start to predict the cells’ chemical and electronic structures and configurations, to which our X-ray measurements provide a most sensitive probe.