Influence of Microstructure on Impedance Response in Intercalation Electrodes

The active particle morphology and microstructure affect the impedance behavior of intercalation electrodes due to the underlying charge transport, active material/electrolyte interfacial surface area, and solid-phase diffusion in lithium-ion batteries (LIB). In order to capture the impact of the electrode microstructural variability on the impedance response, an integrated electrochemical impedance predictive analysis is presented. In the analysis, stochastically reconstructed 3-D microstructures of representative LIB electrodes are considered with variations in the active material morphology and particle size distribution. With the properties evaluated from the virtual 3-D microstructures, the corresponding impedance response is predicted. The concept of electrochemical Sauter mean diameter (ESMD) has been introduced to investigate the effect of active particle morphology, such as particle agglomeration. This integrated analysis is envisioned to offer a virtual impedance response probing framework to elucidate the influence of electrode microstructural variability and underlying electrochemical and transport interactions. (C) The Author(s) 2015. All rights reserved.