Resolving the Sodiation Process in Hard Carbon Anodes with Nanostructure Specific X-Ray Imaging
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2025

Hard carbons show significant promise as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries. However, monitoring the sodiation process in the hard carbon electrode during cycling and understanding the sodiation mechanism remain challenging. This article reports on operando 2D scanning small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SWAXS) and ex situ 3D SAXS tomography of hard carbon electrodes during the sodiation process. Structural changes are monitored with spatial and temporal resolution during the electrochemical process and shows that sodiation through micropore filling is the more dominating mechanism in the later stages of sodiation, i.e. in the plateau region of the voltage profile, while intercalation occurs continuously. Spatial inhomogeneities are resolved over the electrode and reveal an increased level of inhomogeneity at higher degree of sodiation with regions of different degrees of micropore filling. Resolving the processes spatially shows that plating starts at the interface between the electrode and the current collector where also a high degree of micropore filling and formation of pseudo-metallic sodium is found. The work demonstrates how SWAXS imaging can contribute to understanding the sodiation of hard carbon anodes, not only by spatially resolved analysis, but as a method to decouple contributions from different components in a cell, enabling more accurate scattering analysis in in situ environments.

hard carbon

sodium-ion batteries

X-ray imaging

small and wide-angle X-ray scattering

Författare

Martina Olsson

Chalmers, Fysik, Materialfysik

Antoine Klein

Chalmers, Fysik, Materialfysik

Nataliia Mozhzhukhina

Chalmers, Fysik, Materialfysik

SEEL Swedish Electric Transport Laboratory

Shizhao Xiong

Chalmers, Fysik, Materialfysik

Christian Appel

Paul Scherrer Institut

Mads Carlsen

Paul Scherrer Institut

Leonard Nielsen

Chalmers, Fysik, E-commons

Linnea Rensmo

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Paul Scherrer Institut

Marianne Liebi

Chalmers, Fysik, Materialfysik

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Paul Scherrer Institut

Aleksandar Matic

Chalmers, Fysik, Materialfysik

Advanced Science

2198-3844 (ISSN) 21983844 (eISSN)

Vol. In Press

Multi-Modal Tensor Tomography (MUMOTT)

Europeiska kommissionen (EU) (EC/H2020/949301), 2021-01-01 -- 2025-12-31.

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2025)

Fysikalisk kemi

DOI

10.1002/advs.202508635

PubMed

40539827

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2025-06-27