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Download fileThree-Dimensional Visualization of Conductive Domains in Battery Electrodes with Contrast-Enhancing Nanoparticles
journal contribution
posted on 2018-09-05, 00:00 authored by Samantha L. Morelly, Jeff Gelb, Francesco Iacoviello, Paul R. Shearing, Stephen J. Harris, Nicolas J. Alvarez, Maureen H. TangReplacing
conductive carbon black with commercial carbon-coated iron nanoparticles
yields an effective contrast-enhancing agent to differentiate between
active material, conductive additive, and binder in lithium-ion battery
electrodes. Nano-XCT resolved the carbon–binder domain with
126 nm voxel resolution, showing partial coatings around the active
material particles and interparticle bridges. In a complementary analysis,
SEM/EDS determined individual distributions of conductive additives
and binder. Surprisingly, the contrast-enhancing agents showed that
the effect of preparation parameters on the heterogeneity of conductive
additives was weaker than on the binder. Incorporation of such contrast-enhancing
additives can improve understanding of processing–structure–function
relationships in a multitude of devices for energy conversion and
storage.