Neutron imaging of a commercial Li-ion battery during discharge: Application of monochromatic imaging and polychromatic dynamic tomography

Butler, Leslie G.; Schillinger, Burkhard; Ham, Kyungmin; Dobbins, Tabbetha; Liu, Ping; Vajo, John J.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2011.03.023

Cited by 42 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…To track the water evolution as dynamically as possible during a steady potential, an integration time of 5 s was chosen. Due to this short integration time, the recorded radiographies at steady state conditions were rebinned to a resolution of 137 mm in order to achieve a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio as described elsewhere [20].…”

Section: In Situ Neutron Radiographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Water management in novel direct membrane deposition fuel cells under low humidification

Breitwieser

Moroni

Schock

et al. 2016

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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Direct membrane depositionNeutron radiography Water management Back diffusion a b s t r a c t Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) fabricated by direct membrane deposition (DMD) were shown to work even at dry conditions without significant deterioration of the membrane resistance. Here, in situ neutron radiography is used to investigate the water management in those fuel cells to uncover the phenomena that lead to the robust operation under low humidification. A constant level of humidification within the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of a DMD fuel cell is observed even under dry anode operation and 15% relative humidity on the cathode side. This proves a pronounced back diffusion of generated water from the cathode side to the anode side through the thin deposited membrane layer. Over the entire range of polarization curves a very high similarity of the water evolution in anode and cathode flow fields is found in spite of different humidification levels. It is shown that the power density of directly deposited membranes in contrast to a 50 mm thick N-112 membrane is only marginally affected by dry operation conditions. Water profiles in through-plane direction of the MEA reveal that the water content in the DMD fuel cell remains steady even at high current densities. This is in contrast to the N-112 reference fuel cell which shows a strong increase in membrane resistance and a reduced MEA water content with raising current densities. Thus this new MEA fabrication technique has a promising perspective, since dry operation conditions are highly requested in order to reduce fuel cell system costs.

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Section: In Situ Neutron Radiographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Water management in novel direct membrane deposition fuel cells under low humidification

Breitwieser

Moroni

Schock

et al. 2016

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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“…For this reason, experimental methods are required that probe the distribution of Li-ions directly under nondestructive in operando conditions. This has driven the development of in situ techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), [ 35 ] in situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), [ 36,37 ] neutron imaging, [38][39][40] and neutron depth profi ling (NDP). [41][42][43][44][45][46] NDP offers the possibility of directly seeing lithium nuclei through the capture reaction of neutrons with the 6 Li isotope to form an α-particle ( 4 He) and a triton ( 3 H) according to…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct Observation of Li‐Ion Transport in Electrodes under Nonequilibrium Conditions Using Neutron Depth Profiling

Zhang

Verhallen

Labohm

et al. 2015

Advanced Energy Materials

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connecting the active electrode material and the electrolyte, (3) the charge transfer reaction between the liquid electrolyte and the active electrode material, and (4) the solid state transport and phase nucleation/ transformation kinetics within the active electrode material.Many processes have been reported to improve Li-ion battery (dis)charge kinetics each improving one or more of the described aspects 1-4 illustrating the complexity and the lack of agreement concerning the rate-limiting step. This is best illustrated by LiFePO 4 , an important electrode material proposed by Padhi et al. [ 3 ] in 1997, and an intensively studied, well-established model system up to date. (a) For LiFePO 4 the initial hurdle of poor intrinsic electronic and solid-state ionic conduction were overcome by reducing the particle size in combination with carbon or metallic conducting coatings. [4][5][6] In addition to the trivial decrease in the solid-state diffusion distance, particle size reduction toward the nano range has also shown to impact the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of electrode materials. [7][8][9][10] For instance, the nucleation barrier for the fi rst-order phase transition in LiFePO 4 is predicted to be smaller for smaller particles. [ 11 ] Also, the equilibrium potential depends on the particle size, which is predicted to be the consequence of the surface energy which has more impact in smaller particles. [ 7,[12][13][14] In LiFePO 4 this results in a larger equilibrium voltage in smaller LiFePO 4 particles [ 12,15 ] which explains the spontaneous, without an externally applied potential, Li-ion transport from small to large LiFePO 4 particles. [ 16 ] (b) First-order phase transitions are generally thought to result in poor kinetics as compared to solid solution reactions. The observation that the fi rst-order phase transition can be bypassed in LiFePO 4 at high (dis)charge rates [ 17,18 ] driven by the overpotential, [19][20][21] is also considered to be responsible for the high (dis)charge rates that can be achieved. [17][18][19][20][21] (c) Surface diffusion on the LiFePO 4 particles appears to play a role as very fast (dis)charge rates were achieved by the addition of an ionic-conducting phase at the LiFePO 4 surface.[ 22 ] (d) In many studies it has been recognized that for higher rates the ionic transport through the porous electrode structure is rate limiting. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29] This is consistent with the direct observation that the electrode capacity decreases with increasing thickness at the same rate and loading density. [ 23,30 ] Over the years, various modelling approaches have been describing the complex phenomena that play a role, mainly focussing on the with the ion transport and charge transfer through the porous electrode matrix, [ 1,31 ] solid solutions and distributed ohmic drop in the One of the key challenges of Li-ion electrodes is enhancement of (dis)charge rates. This is severely hindered by the absence of a technique that allows direct and nondestructive observation of li...

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“…The use of neutrons for imaging is of particular interest owing to their ability to penetrate bulk objects, for example up to several centimetres of metal, and the sensitivity to light elements, providing high contrast for components, in particular those containing hydrogen. There have been several high-profile studies detailing neutron imaging on examples such as running engines (Schillinger et al, 2006), lithium batteries (Butler et al, 2011), in situ investigations of fuel cells (Satija et al, 2004), storage of hydrogen (Gondek et al, 2011), water uptake in plants (Oswald et al, 2008) and non-invasive investigations of cultural heritage objects . For a topical review see Neutron News (2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron imaging using a conventional small-angle neutron scattering instrument

Dewhurst

Grillo

2016

J Appl Cryst

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Neutron imaging has enjoyed a flurry of activity and application in recent years. The construction of dedicated beamlines at various neutron sources has demonstrated the significant interest among the science and engineering communities, with particular relevance to industrial applications, the nondestructive testing of components and imaging of precious archaeological artefacts.Here two methods are demonstrated of how neutron imaging can be performed using a conventional small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument, such as D33 at the Institut Laue-Langevin, with spatial resolutions down to about 100 mm. The first is a magnified imaging technique from a quasi-point-like source with the magnified image recorded on the usual low-resolution SANS detector. The second method uses a fine beam in a raster-scan measurement over the area of interest. Images can be reconstructed either using the transmitted beam, as in conventional radiographic imaging, or from scattering data, giving access to transmission radiographic images as well as the dark-field or scattering contrasts and phase-contrast images.

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Neutron imaging of a commercial Li-ion battery during discharge: Application of monochromatic imaging and polychromatic dynamic tomography

Cited by 42 publications

References 29 publications

Water management in novel direct membrane deposition fuel cells under low humidification

Water management in novel direct membrane deposition fuel cells under low humidification

Direct Observation of Li‐Ion Transport in Electrodes under Nonequilibrium Conditions Using Neutron Depth Profiling

Neutron imaging using a conventional small-angle neutron scattering instrument

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