Effect of the boron element in a Li-P-S system.

Lithium-ion batteries are nowadays a mature technology for energy storage. However, some safety problems have been identified during their operation in high power applications such as fire incidents in electric vehicles. The most promising solution to improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries is replacing the current organic liquid based electrolytes with solid electrolytes.

and XPEEM: a Surface-Sensitive Tool for Studying Single Particles in Li-Ion Battery Composite Electrodes.

X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (XPEEM), with its excellent spatial resolution, is a well-suited technique for elucidating the complex electrode-electrolyte interface reactions in Li-ion batteries. It provides element-specific contrast images that allows the study of the surface morphology and the identification of the various components of the composite electrode. It also enables the acquisition of local X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) on single particles of the electrode, such as the C and O K-edges to track the stability of carbonate-based electrolytes, F K-edge to study the electrolyte salt and binder stability, and the transition metal L-edges to gain insights into the oxidation/reduction processes of positive and negative active materials.