Dedicated Cryogenic Workflows for Atomic STEM Based Analysis on Lithium Based Battery Materials

<br/>In the past decade, the rapid growth of electric vehicles and consumer electronics market leads Li-ion batteries to attract significant attention. In order to further advance their performance for higher energy and better safety, fundamental understanding of battery materials structures and chemistry is essential. Nowadays, in order to pursue higher battery performance, more and more materials used in battery are beam sensitive and inherently air sensitive. This brings challenges to preserve their native structure and property via routine electron microscope practice.<br/>Low-dose EELS STEM analysis carried out at cryogenic temperature on a Krios (S)TEM under cryogenic conditions has proven to be a very successful approach to study the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) in the Li metal anode region. The main challenges that until recently has limited the accurate investigation of SEI samples are the extreme sensitivity to air and probing sources such as the electron beam. However, by combining the cryo transfer approaches developed for life science tools and the extra stability of the dedicated cryo-stage in the Krios, it was possible to successfully carry out, morphological, chemical and tomography studies of the solid electrolyte interface region in Li-anodes [1].<br/>Motivated by cryogenic electron microscope (Cryo-EM) technology in structural biology, the application and challenges of cryo-EM in battery research is discussed here.<br/><br/>References:<br/>[1] B. Han, X. Li, S. Bai, Y. Zhou, B. Lu, M. Zhang, Z. Ma, Z. Chang, Y. S. Meng and M. Gu, Matter 4, 1-12, November 3, 2021