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Effect of crystallite geometries on electrochemical performance of porous intercalation electrodes by multiscale operando investigation

Nature Materials volume 21, pages 217–227 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries are yet to realize their full promise because of challenges in the design and construction of electrode architectures that allow for their entire interior volumes to be reversibly accessible for ion storage. Electrodes constructed from the same material and with the same specifications, which differ only in terms of dimensions and geometries of the constituent particles, can show surprising differences in polarization, stress accumulation and capacity fade. Here, using operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD), we probe the mechanistic origins of the remarkable particle geometry-dependent modification of lithiation-induced phase transformations in V2O5 as a model phase-transforming cathode. A pronounced modulation of phase coexistence regimes is observed as a function of particle geometry. Specifically, a metastable phase is stabilized for nanometre-sized spherical V2O5 particles, to circumvent the formation of large misfit strains. Spatially resolved EDXRD measurements demonstrate that particle geometries strongly modify the tortuosity of the porous cathode architecture. Greater ion-transport limitations in electrode architectures comprising micrometre-sized platelets result in considerable lithiation heterogeneities across the thickness of the electrode. These insights establish particle geometry-dependent modification of metastable phase regimes and electrode tortuosity as key design principles for realizing the promise of intercalation cathodes.

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Fig. 1: Morphology and electrochemical characterization of bulk and NS V2O5.
Fig. 2: Operando synchrotron XRD measurements.
Fig. 3: Particle geometry dependence of (transient) lithiation phase diagram.
Fig. 4: Mapping spatiotemporal phase evolution across the thickness of an electrode.
Fig. 5: Mapping accumulation of phase heterogeneities using operando synchrotron EDXRD measurements of bulk and NS V2O5 electrodes.
Fig. 6: Mesoscale simulations of potential variation and Li-ion diffusion across the thickness of a composite electrode.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper. Any other data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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All original code scripts have been provided and are freely available.

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Acknowledgements

This study is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under DMR 1809866. We also gratefully acknowledge support from award no. A-1978-20190330 from the Welch Foundation. B.-X.X. acknowledges the German Science Foundation (DFG) for funding under project number 398072825. M.P. acknowledges support from NSF under DMR 1944674. K.X. acknowledges X-Grants Initiative at Texas A&M University for support of this work. A.M. gratefully acknowledges support from Argonne National Laboratory. P.P.M. acknowledges financial support in part from the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1805656). This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Argonne National Laboratory is operated for the US Department of Energy Office of Science by UChicago Argonne. We thank A. Yakovenko for his support at Beamline 17-BM of the APS. We also thank J. Okasinski for his help with experiments at 6-BM of APS. Use of the TAMU Materials Characterization Facility and the Texas A&M Microscopy and Imaging Center is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Yuting Luo, Joseph V. Handy, Luis Carrillo & Sarbajit Banerjee

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Yuting Luo, Dexin Zhao, Joseph V. Handy, Luis Carrillo, Kelvin Xie & Sarbajit Banerjee

  3. Institute of Materials Science, Mechanics of Functional Materials, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Yang Bai, Shahed Rezaei & Bai-Xiang Xu

  4. Chemical Sciences & Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA

    Aashutosh Mistry

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Yuwei Zhang & Matt Pharr

  6. School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Susmita Sarkar & Partha P. Mukherjee

  7. X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA

    Andrew Chihpin Chuang & Kamila Wiaderek

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Contributions

Y.L., B.-X.X. and S.B. designed the project. Y.L. performed material synthesis, microscopy experiments, operando X-ray diffraction and EDXRD experiments and data analysis. A.M. designed the mesoscale model. B.-X.X., Y.B. and S.R. contributed to the phase-field simulations. Y.Z. performed MOS experiment and data analysis. K.X., Y.Z. and D.Z. conducted FIB-SEM experiment and 3D reconstruction. S.S. performed EIS fitting and calculated tortuosity. J.V.H. helped with operando X-ray diffraction and EDXRD experiments. A.C.C. helped with operando energy dispersive X-ray diffraction data analysis. L.C. performed TEM measurements. K.W. helped with battery assembly. M.P., P.P.M., B.-X.X. and S.B. supervised the whole project. All authors contributed to writing and editing the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Partha P. Mukherjee, Bai-Xiang Xu or Sarbajit Banerjee.

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Peer review information Nature Materials thanks Thomas Heenan and Louis Piper for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–18 and Tables 1–10.

Supplementary Video 1

Operando EDXRD data acquired for layers 3–5 with corresponding first discharge/charge profile for bulk V2O5.

Supplementary Video 2

Operando EDXRD data acquired for layers 3–5 with corresponding first discharge/charge profile for NS V2O5.

Supplementary Video 3

3D reconstruction of bulk V2O5 electrode from FIB-SEM images.

Supplementary Video 4

3D reconstruction of NS V2O5 electrode from FIB-SEM images.

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Luo, Y., Bai, Y., Mistry, A. et al. Effect of crystallite geometries on electrochemical performance of porous intercalation electrodes by multiscale operando investigation. Nat. Mater. 21, 217–227 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01151-8

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