Real-Time Battery Analysis via Synchrotron Techniques
Scrutinizing electrochemical instability at the atomic level. A case built upon pioneering "operando" structural degradation academic work.
1. The Bottleneck in Storage
Every electric vehicle, smartphone, or electrical grid storage system faces one of the biggest challenges of the energy transition: performance degradation and loss of chemical battery lifespan, such as lithium and sodium. This project, developed in partnership with a multinational energy sector company, was certainly the one that demanded the most technical depth from our team. It focused on a critical problem: the gradual loss of capacity of commercial batteries with each charge and discharge cycle, caused by parasitic side reactions and the instability of the cathode and electrolyte.
2. Light Dynamics: "Operando" in Real Time
Normally, analyzing a battery requires disassembling it after use and analyzing it, limiting the understanding of intermediate steps. Innovating in this would require "filming" chemical reactions live. That is operando analysis.
We applied complex methods, with even more complex names, such as X-ray Absorption and Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Nano Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. With this, we mapped the changes caused by ion transport while the battery is charged and discharged, recording dozens of spectra per hour. Information worth gold.
3. Discovering the Lifespan Killer
Molecular imaging revealed the reaction mechanisms in the cathode and electrolyte. The main problem rested on molecules that "broke" due to current or voltage. Not only that, we successfully mapped exactly where on the molecule this break happened.
The legacy of this project now allows redesigning more resistant molecules and adding chemical stabilizers to batteries. This extra "spice" will improve batteries and should directly affect the market in a few months.