Development of SPICA, New Dedicated Neutron Powder Diffractometer for Battery Studies

SPICA, a new special environment powder neutron diffractometer was built at BL09 in the Material and Life science Facility (MLF) of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). This is the first instrument dedicated solely to the study of next-generation batteries in J-PARC and is optimized for in situ measurements to clarify structural changes of materials in batteries. The basic design and instrumentation of SPICA have been completed. The highest Delta d/d resolution achieved at the commissioning stage was 0.09% at the back scattering bank of SPICA. The reliability of the diffraction data has achieved a sufficiently high level for the structural analysis of materials using the Rietveld method. The air scattering banks with the blades made of B4C for in situ measurements also function very well.