Correlative SEM, EDX and Raman for Battery Characterization

Battery characterization often requires the combination of various techniques to disentangle their complexity, and it is particularly advantageous when the techniques are applied to exactly the same sample and recorded nearly simultaneously, as it is the case of the new correlative SEM, EDX and Raman instrument recently acquired by the University of Southampton.<br/>The benefits of this new instrument are demonstrated via the characterization of a composite electrode containing a mixture of LCO (LiCoO₂), NMC (LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂) and carbon particles, showing how the Raman characterization enables the assignment of the chemical composition (and confirmed by EDX elemental analysis) of the different particles detected by the high-resolution SEM.<br/>The instrument is also built with a windowless EDX detector (in addition to a conventional one) able to detect elemental lithium, which is used to investigate the chemical and morphological changes of Li metal anodes in Li-S batteries, taking advantage of a transfer-shuttle system that enables the transfer of samples from the glovebox to the SEM chamber without exposure to air.<br/>Overall, the new instrument enables the nearly simultaneous morphological (SEM), elemental (EDX) and chemical (Raman) characterization of the same sample spot with high spatial resolution, thus bringing new opportunities to address complex questions in battery research.