Comparing the Purity of Rolled versus Evaporated Lithium Metal Films Using X-ray Microtomography

Alec S. Ho; Andrew S. Westover; Katie Browning; Jacqueline A. Maslyn; Dilworth Y. Parkinson; Ritu Sahore; Nancy Dudney; Nitash P. Balsara

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00255

Comparing the Purity of Rolled versus Evaporated Lithium Metal Films Using X-ray Microtomography

Alec S. Ho, Andrew S. Westover, Katie Browning, Jacqueline A. Maslyn, Dilworth Y. Parkinson, Ritu Sahore, Nancy Dudney, Nitash P. Balsara

Energy Storage & Conversion

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Here, we present a comparison of lithium metal films produced via rolling and thermal evaporation using synchrotron hard X-ray microtomography. In past studies of rolled lithium metal foils, a large number of C, O, and N impurities were found and identified as the key cause for failure in lithium metal cells. In this comparison, the X-ray tomography data show that the evaporated lithium metal films have an average impurity concentration of 19 particles/mm³ in comparison to 1350 particles/mm³ in the rolled lithium metal. An analysis of the inner substrate/lithium interface and outer lithium surface of the thermally evaporated film shows a much greater concentration of impurities at these interfaces, further emphasizing the importance of interface engineering in producing high-quality lithium metal batteries. We show that, if surface contamination can be avoided, it is possible to obtain lithium films with no impurities detectable by synchrotron hard X-ray tomography.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1120-1124
Number of pages	5
Journal	ACS Energy Letters
Volume	7
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00255
State	Published - Mar 11 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society

Funding

The authors would like to thank Juergen Janek for useful discussions regarding this work. The US Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Vehicles Technologies Office provided funding for this work under the US-German Cooperation on Energy Storage: Lithium-Solid-Electrolyte Interfaces program. A.S.H. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-2020294884). Hard X-ray experiments were performed at the Advanced Light Source, which is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. J.A.M. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-2752814). The US Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Vehicles Technologies Office provided funding for this work under the US-German Cooperation on Energy Storage: Lithium-Solid-Electrolyte Interfaces program. A.S.H. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-2020294884). Hard X-ray experiments were performed at the Advanced Light Source, which is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02–05CH11231. J.A.M. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-2752814).

Funders	Funder number
US Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Vehicles Technologies Office
National Science Foundation	DGE-2020294884
U.S. Department of Energy	DGE-2752814, DE-AC02–05CH11231
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences

Access to Document

10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00255

Cite this

@article{b41f06b061124f6c9d0aa04482396c45,

title = "Comparing the Purity of Rolled versus Evaporated Lithium Metal Films Using X-ray Microtomography",

abstract = "Here, we present a comparison of lithium metal films produced via rolling and thermal evaporation using synchrotron hard X-ray microtomography. In past studies of rolled lithium metal foils, a large number of C, O, and N impurities were found and identified as the key cause for failure in lithium metal cells. In this comparison, the X-ray tomography data show that the evaporated lithium metal films have an average impurity concentration of 19 particles/mm3 in comparison to 1350 particles/mm3 in the rolled lithium metal. An analysis of the inner substrate/lithium interface and outer lithium surface of the thermally evaporated film shows a much greater concentration of impurities at these interfaces, further emphasizing the importance of interface engineering in producing high-quality lithium metal batteries. We show that, if surface contamination can be avoided, it is possible to obtain lithium films with no impurities detectable by synchrotron hard X-ray tomography.",

author = "Ho, {Alec S.} and Westover, {Andrew S.} and Katie Browning and Maslyn, {Jacqueline A.} and Parkinson, {Dilworth Y.} and Ritu Sahore and Nancy Dudney and Balsara, {Nitash P.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 American Chemical Society",

year = "2022",

month = mar,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00255",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

pages = "1120--1124",

journal = "ACS Energy Letters",

issn = "2380-8195",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparing the Purity of Rolled versus Evaporated Lithium Metal Films Using X-ray Microtomography

AU - Ho, Alec S.

AU - Westover, Andrew S.

AU - Browning, Katie

AU - Maslyn, Jacqueline A.

AU - Parkinson, Dilworth Y.

AU - Sahore, Ritu

AU - Dudney, Nancy

AU - Balsara, Nitash P.

PY - 2022/3/11

Y1 - 2022/3/11

N2 - Here, we present a comparison of lithium metal films produced via rolling and thermal evaporation using synchrotron hard X-ray microtomography. In past studies of rolled lithium metal foils, a large number of C, O, and N impurities were found and identified as the key cause for failure in lithium metal cells. In this comparison, the X-ray tomography data show that the evaporated lithium metal films have an average impurity concentration of 19 particles/mm3 in comparison to 1350 particles/mm3 in the rolled lithium metal. An analysis of the inner substrate/lithium interface and outer lithium surface of the thermally evaporated film shows a much greater concentration of impurities at these interfaces, further emphasizing the importance of interface engineering in producing high-quality lithium metal batteries. We show that, if surface contamination can be avoided, it is possible to obtain lithium films with no impurities detectable by synchrotron hard X-ray tomography.

AB - Here, we present a comparison of lithium metal films produced via rolling and thermal evaporation using synchrotron hard X-ray microtomography. In past studies of rolled lithium metal foils, a large number of C, O, and N impurities were found and identified as the key cause for failure in lithium metal cells. In this comparison, the X-ray tomography data show that the evaporated lithium metal films have an average impurity concentration of 19 particles/mm3 in comparison to 1350 particles/mm3 in the rolled lithium metal. An analysis of the inner substrate/lithium interface and outer lithium surface of the thermally evaporated film shows a much greater concentration of impurities at these interfaces, further emphasizing the importance of interface engineering in producing high-quality lithium metal batteries. We show that, if surface contamination can be avoided, it is possible to obtain lithium films with no impurities detectable by synchrotron hard X-ray tomography.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125896522&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00255

DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00255

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85125896522

SN - 2380-8195

VL - 7

SP - 1120

EP - 1124

JO - ACS Energy Letters

JF - ACS Energy Letters

IS - 3

ER -

Comparing the Purity of Rolled versus Evaporated Lithium Metal Films Using X-ray Microtomography

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this