December 1 - 6, 2024
Boston, Massachusetts

Event Supporters

2024 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium CH04-Advanced Characterization Techniques and Methodologies for Battery Materials

As the demand for sustainable and affordable energy storage solutions increases, there is a critical need to explore alternative materials beyond those employed in traditional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Developing cheaper and safer energy storage materials with higher performance is imperative, but new materials often have compromised electrochemical performance, including lower capacities and poor cycling performance. These issues can be attributed to various factors, including local structural changes, surface degradation, and the formation of unstable solid-electrolyte interphases. To address these challenges, this symposium aims to gather researchers and experts to discuss advanced characterization techniques for energy storage materials for battery applications. The symposium will focus on exploring the latest analytical methods, such as in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in-situ atomic force microscopy (AFM), neutron diffraction and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis, 3D tomography, X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. We invite original research submissions on advanced characterizations that improve our understanding of the local structure, composition, and chemical states of energy storage materials under operando conditions. The symposium will cover topics such as local structural changes and surface degradation of electrodes, formation and stability of solid-electrolyte interphases, morphology and phase characterization using advanced microscopy techniques, and electrochemical and transport properties under operando conditions. This symposium aims to foster interdisciplinary discussions among researchers in materials science, chemistry, physics, and engineering to advance the development of energy storage materials.

Topics will include:

  • Synchrotron X-ray characterization of electrode materials
  • Neutron diffraction and PDF of high energy cathodes
  • Spectroscopic studies of solid-electrolyte interphases (SEI)
  • X-ray tomography and microscopy for the 3D visualization of energy materials
  • Acoustic signals for determining electrochemical system
  • Cryo-EM for battery materials and interfaces
  • Battery performance engineering assisted by advanced atomic force microscopy
  • Advanced Raman and infrared spectroscopy for studying battery materials and interfaces
  • In situ/operando NMR spectroscopy of battery materials
  • In situ/operando optical microscopy for probing interfaces, degradation, deposition and more during the electrochemical process

Invited Speakers:

  • Mahalingam Balasubramanian (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA)
  • Frederic Blanc (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom)
  • Jordi Cabana (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)
  • Neil Dasgupta (University of Michigan, USA)
  • Nuria Garcia-Araez (University of Southampton, United Kingdom)
  • Clare Grey (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
  • Kelsey Hatzell (Princeton University, USA)
  • Enyuan Hu (Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA)
  • Yan-Yan Hu (Florida State University, USA)
  • Karin Kleiner (Universität Münster, Germany)
  • James LeBeau (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
  • Michal Leskes (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
  • Xiaolin Li (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA)
  • Jue Liu (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA)
  • Lauren Marbella (Columbia University, USA)
  • David Muller (Cornell University, USA)
  • Akshay Rao (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
  • Jennifer Rupp (Technische Universität München, Germany)
  • Dan Steingart (Columbia University, USA)
  • Xin Xu (Arizona State University, USA)
  • Wolfgang Zeier (University of Münster, Germany)

Symposium Organizers

Duhan Zhang
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
USA

Rachel Carter
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Chemistry Division
USA

David Halat
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
USA

Mengya Li
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
USA

Topics

ion-solid interactions neutron scattering nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) spectroscopy transmission electron microscopy (TEM) x-ray tomography