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Title: Accommodating High Transformation Strains in Battery Electrodes via the Formation of Nanoscale Intermediate Phases: Operando Investigation of Olivine NaFePO4 [Accommodation of High Transformation Strain in Battery Electrodes via Formation of Nanoscale Intermediate Phases: Operando Structure Investigation of Olivine Sodium Iron Phosphate]

Journal Article · · Nano Letters
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
  3. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Virtually all intercalation compounds used as battery electrodes exhibit significant changes in unit cell volume during use. NaxFePO4 (0 < x < 1, NFP) olivine, of interest as a cathode for sodium-ion batteries, is a model for topotactic, high strain systems as it exhibits one of the largest discontinuous volume changes (~17% by volume) during its first-order transition between two otherwise isostructural phases. Using synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction (PXD) and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis, we discover a new strain-accommodation mechanism wherein a third, <10 nm scale nanocrystalline phase forms to buffer the large lattice mismatch between primary phases. The new phase has a and b lattice parameters matching one crystalline endmember phase and c lattice parameter matching the other, and is not detectable by powder diffraction alone. Finally, we suggest that this strain-accommodation mechanism may apply to systems with large transformation strains but in which true “amorphization” does not occur.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1373931
Journal Information:
Nano Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 3; ISSN 1530-6984
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

High‐Abundance and Low‐Cost Metal‐Based Cathode Materials for Sodium‐Ion Batteries: Problems, Progress, and Key Technologies journal February 2019
Electrochemical Patterns of Phase Transforming Intercalation Materials: Diagnostic Criteria for the Case of Slow Nucleation Rate Control journal January 2019
When Crystals Go Nano - The Role of Advanced X-ray Total Scattering Methods in Nanotechnology journal September 2018
Evidence of anatase intergrowths formed during slow cooling of reduced ilmenite journal February 2018
Phase-field model for diffusion-induced grain boundary migration: An application to battery electrodes journal June 2019
When Crystals Go Nano - The Role of Advanced X-ray Total Scattering Methods in Nanotechnology: When Crystals Go Nano - The Role of Advanced X-ray Total Scattering Methods in Nanotechnology journal August 2018
Evidence of anatase intergrowths formed during slow cooling of reduced ilmenite journal August 2019
Order–disorder transition in nano-rutile TiO$_{2}$ anodes: a high capacity low-volume change Li-ion battery material text January 2019