Deciphering the Nature of Cation Disordering via Vibrational Structure Characterizations

Cation disordering, a fascinating phenomenon that represents random cation distribution in a long range, has brought about numerous novel materials for battery applications. As a key to the performance of a cation-disordered battery material, how the cations are arranged in a shorter range is an intriguing question. In this talk, we will present our study in understanding the nature of cation disordering for a series of cation-disordered electrode materials via analyzing their vibrational structures. Owing to the unique working principle of vibrational spectroscopy, it generates critical information of cation arrangement, which cannot be feasibly obtained via diffraction analyses. Furthermore, the spectroscopic information allows to locate a few hidden key factors that control the electrochemical performance and help us build models to better understand the role of these factors.