Development of Advanced X-Ray Emission Spectrometry Solution for Battery Materials Studies

Studies of the electronic structure of battery materials during electrochemical cycling are essential to understand the charge compensation mechanisms. X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) is a powerful technique for studying the electronic structures of materials, including the spins, valences, and ligand environments of the elements under investigation. Traditional XES spectrometers, however, are capable of revealing this information from only one type of element at a time. In this talk, we present an X-ray emission spectrometer capable of simultaneous measurements of up to seven Kβ emission lines consisting of a variety of transition metal elements: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn [1]. We will first demonstrate the capabilities of the advanced X-ray emission spectrometer, including sequentially measuring the XES of seven elements in one setup, simultaneously collecting the XES of Mn, Co, and Ni, and investigating Co XES while charging and discharging the battery. Furthermore, the application of artificial intelligence/machine learning for data processing and data analysis will also be discussed [2,3].

References:
1. Chengjun Sun, Mikhail A. Solovyev, Steve Heald, Xiaoyi Zhang, Maria Chan, and Shelly D. Kelly. "Advanced X-ray emission spectrometers." U.S. Patent 11,874,239, issued January 16, 2024.
2. In-Hui Hwang, Mikhail A. Solovyev, Sang-Wook Han, Maria KY Chan, John P. Hammonds, Steve M. Heald, Shelly D. Kelly, Nicholas Schwarz, Xiaoyi Zhang, and Cheng-Jun Sun. "AXEAP: a software package for X-ray emission data analysis using unsupervised machine learning." Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 29, no. 5 (2022): 1309-1317.
3. I-H. Hwang, Shelly D. Kelly, Maria KY Chan, Eli Stavitski, Steve M. Heald, S-W. Han, Nicholas Schwarz, and C-J. Sun. "The AXEAP2 program for Kβ X-ray emission spectra analysis using artificial intelligence." Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 30, no. 5 (2023): 923–933