Nanotechnology for Future Batteries

The Helmholtz Institute Münster receives a new Atomic Force Microskope that will enable researchers to enhance batteries at the atomic level.

03. November 2021 - Since October 2021, a new device with the size of a coffee machine has been in the chemistry lab. The research team at the Helmholtz Institute Münster (HI MS; IEK-12) of Forschungszentrum Jülich is delighted because the new Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) allows battery research on the nanoscale.

"The AFM enables us to investigate local surfaces of a sample down to the atomic level and with extremely high resolution," explains Dr Kerstin Neuhaus from HI MS. She specialises in microscopic analyses and solid-state electrolytes and will be in charge of the device.

A fine measuring tip of the device is used to characterise interfaces between electrolyte and electrode as well as irregularities on material surfaces in battery cells. The imaging method reveals, for example, contact problems at interfaces which lead to a loss of power in the energy storage device. "With the help of the AFM, we will be able to better identify, analyse and remedy these weak points," says Neuhaus.

The possible applications of the new microscope are extremely diverse - from solids to hybrids to liquid systems. The new acquisition also includes an electrochemical measuring cell for operando experiments, so that certain conditions in battery cells can be simulated and examined in operation – for example during the charging and discharging process.

Small-scale electrochemical analysis in combination with sample topography provides scientists with a complementary approach to electron microscopic methods such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), as well as the analysis to determine local sample chemistries using, for example, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). In collaborations between HI MS, the MEET Battery Research Center and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of WWU Münster, it has already been possible to characterise coatings on lithium metal and differences in the elasticity of various polymer membranes.

The installation of the AFM and the training of the HI MS team will take place at the end of October. Now there are many opportunities to follow up on existing research questions, such as on newly developed materials, lithium dendrite growth and ageing processes.