In situ neutron powder diffraction studies of lithium-ion batteries

Neutron powder diffraction (NPD) offers many advantages in the analysis of battery materials. Understanding the relationship between the structural transformations of electrode materials and their electrochemical performance within lithium-ion batteries is crucial for further development of these technologies and is the overall goal of in situ NPD experiments. In this work, we present NPD data of electrode materials within batteries that are collected in situ during electrochemical cycling, including the commercially available materials LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiFePO4 and graphite and the YFe(CN)(6) and FeFe(CN)(6) materials that are not commercially available. Using these data, we illustrate the experimental approach and requirements for the collection of in situ NPD data of sufficient quality for detailed structural analyses of the electrode components of interest within batteries.