原位透射电镜技术在电池领域的研究进展

Review of in situ transmission electron microscopy studies of battery materials

本文总结了原位透射电镜在电池研究领域的一些重要研究进展。虽然经过多年的研究,但是电极材料以及其与电解质界面(SEI)在充放电过程中结构、形貌、成分的变化过程还不清楚,以上结构演化与电池性能的相关性更是了解甚少,急需要设计一种新的实验技术可以在微观尺度上对其变化进行观察,原位透射电镜技术正是为了满足这样的需求而设计的。原位电镜拥有高时空分辨率和能量分辨率,可实时观察各类纳米电极材料及SEI在充放电过程中的微观变化。本文首先讨论在透射电镜中组装纳米电池的实验方法,然后讨论了应用此技术在研究锂离子电池、金属空气电池等领域的一些重要研究进展,最后对应用原位透射电镜技术研究电池的未来发展方向进行展望。原位透射电镜技术可以直接和实时观察电极材料和SEI在电化学反应中的微观变化行为,这对于深入了解电池失效机理和设计高性能电池具有重要指导意义。

This review summarizes recent important research progress in the field of in situ transmission electron microscopy(TEM)studies of batteries.Although enormous efforts have been devoted to understanding the fundamental electrochemistry of batteries,the structure,morphology and composition evolution of the electrode materials during charging and discharging are still unclear.Furthermore,how to correlate microstructure evolution with battery performance is still challenging.Thus,it is important to develop advanced in situ TEM techniques to monitor structural evolution of electrode materials during cycling in real time and to correlate the structural information with the batteries performance so as to advance our understanding of batteries.In this review,we firstly summarize the experimental techniques of assembling nano batteries under high vacuum condition in TEM to enable battery studies.Then discuss important research progress in the application of in situ techniques in the research of lithium/sodium ion batteries and metal air batteries.Finally,perspectives on future directions on the application of in situ TEM in battery studies are provided.The in situ TEM technology can directly and in real-time observe the microscopic behavior of battery materials in electrochemical reactions,deepen the understanding of the failure behavior of battery materials in charge and discharge,and provide a scientific basis for the design of high-stability batteries and broaden their application fields.