Design and Operation of an Operando Synchrotron Diffraction Cell Enabling Fast Cycling of Battery Materials

Operation of a battery typically involves dynamic and non-equilibrium processes, making real time operando techniques crucial for understanding their nature. Operando X-ray diffraction is an important technique for investigating metastable intermediates and non-equilibrium phase transitions in crystalline electrode materials. Currently employed experimental setups often apply a disruptive approach to cell design, whereby the integrity of standard electrochemical cells is compromised to facilitate collection of high-quality diffraction data. Here, we present a non-disruptive approach to adapting the use of a standard pouch cell that enables fast and long-term cell cycling. Suitability of the setup is demonstrated on the well-studied cathode material LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4. While exhibiting comparable electrochemical behavior to a standard pouch cell up to a current rate of 8 C (∼6.6 mA cm−2), phase transitions could be monitored accurately. Thus, the cell provides a new alternative to investigating non-equilibrium transitions and long-term aging effects in battery materials