Abstract
An understanding of Lithium (Li) spatial distribution within the electrodes of a Li-ion cell, during charge and discharge cycles, is essential to optimize the electrode parameters for increased performance under cycling. In this work, it is demonstrated that the spatial distribution of Li within Vanadium Pentoxide (V2O5) electrodes of a small coin cell can be imaged by neutron computed tomography. The neutron attenuation data has been used to construct the three-dimensional Li spatial images. Specifically, it is shown that there is sufficient neutron imaging contrast between lithiated and delithiated regions of V2O5 electrode making it possible to map Li distributions even in small electrodes with thicknesses <1 mm. The images reveal that the Li spatial distribution is inhomogeneous and a relatively higher C-rate leads to more non-uniform Li distribution after Li insertion. The non-uniform distribution suggests the limitation of Li diffusion within the electrode during the lithiation process under the relatively high cycling rates.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 125-130 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Power Sources |
| Volume | 376 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2018 |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). This research was supported by DoE-BES grant DE-FG0212ER46891. This research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This manuscript is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under contract number DE-AC05-00OR22725. The authors thank DOE-BES Neutron Scattering program for the support and encouragement. The authors thank the assistance of Dr. J. C. Bilheux and Dr. L. J. Santodonato in data analysis and experimentation at ORNL.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Office of Basic Energy Sciences | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Basic Energy Sciences | DE-AC05-00OR22725, DE-FG0212ER46891 |
Keywords
- C-rates
- Computed tomography
- Li-ion cell
- Neutron imaging
- Spatial distribution
- VO cathode
