Workflows for assessing lithium-ion battery cells with computed tomography and high-resolution 3D X-ray microscopes

In the last three decades, significant progress has been made on lithium-based battery technologies. However, lithium-ion battery cell manufacturers still face quality and process control challenges when trying to non-destructively map the battery electrodes’ microstructure, its heterogeneities, and their effect on battery aging and performance. This presentation introduces workflows that combine high-resolution X-ray microscopy and computed tomography to generate detailed three-dimensional visualization of the inside of lithium-ion batteries, without destroying them, to enable the study of their internal structure before and after charging/discharging cycles. These workflows can speed up development time, increase cost-effectiveness, and simplify failure analysis and quality inspection of lithium-ion batteries and other cells built with new emerging energy materials.