Synchrotron X-Rays Characterizations of Metal-Air Batteries

doi:10.13208/j.electrochem.210846

Abstract

Abstract:

The rapid development of electric vehicles urgently requires high-energy-density batteries. Recently, metal-air batteries have attracted much attention in industry and academia for their ultra-high theoretical energy densities. However, the practical application of metal-air batteries is severely impeded by multiple drawbacks, including severe side reactions, low energy efficiency, and limited cycle life. Understanding the reaction mechanism of the cell and further developing effective strategies are beneficial for the practical application of metal-air batteries. In the past decade, advanced characterization techniques have accelerated the development of metal-air batteries. In particular, synchrotron radiation-based characterization techniques have been widely applied to the mechanistic study of metal-air batteries due to their non-destructive detection capability and high resolution. In this review, various synchrotron radiation-based characterization techniques are systematically summarized to understand the local structure and chemistry of metal-air batteries, with a special focus on how these advanced techniques can help understand the essence of degradation mechanism and optimization strategies. This progress report aims to highlight the crucial role of synchrotron radiation characterization for mechanism understanding of metal-air batteries.

Key words: high energy density, metal-air battery, synchrotron-based techniques, battery degradation

Ya-Jie Song, Xue Sun, Li-Ping Ren, Lei Zhao, Fan-Peng Kong, Jia-Jun Wang. Synchrotron X-Rays Characterizations of Metal-Air Batteries[J]. Journal of Electrochemistry, 2022, 28(3): 2108461.

Figures/Tables 17

References 122

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Technique	Information	Sample Property	Advantage	Limitation
SXRD	Structure lattice plane	Contains crystal structure	Structural Analysis	Does not work for noncrystalline samples
SRPES	Chemistry	Solids, liquids	Chemical composition analysis	Low spatial resolution
XAFS	Coordination and valence, etc.	Solids, liquids, gases	Microstructure analysis Mechanistic analysis	The information provided is the average structure
STXM	Elemental (including light elements)	Solids	Light-element mapping Chemical composition distribution	Thin sample, vacuum chamber
SR CT	2D/3D imaging	Contains solidphase	Morphological evolution Product distribution	Weak image contrast for light elements