Scanning and transmission electron microscopy contributions to the improvement of electrode materials and interfaces in the design of better batteries

Batteries performances depend on many factors amongst which the most critical are the selection/synthesis of the appropriate electrode material and the control of the electrode/electrolyte interface upon cycling. To address these issues, recent efforts have been devoted towards developing new ways to perform in situ measurements. We showed how recent advances in both cell design (e.g. the emergence of plastic cells) and instrumentations have boosted the implementation of in situ SEM and TEM techniques to the field of energy storage. The importance of such techniques to design new electrode materials, to finely tune the electrode texture for maximum electrochemical efficiency, to spot interfacial modifications/growing layers or, in short, to 'enter the private life' of a battery is discussed and commented through descriptive examples selected from various battery technologies. The link between the fundamental findings and their practical relevance to the commercial field is highlighted. Finally, although the use of microscopy techniques within the field of energy storage is rapidly growing, the full use of scanning environmental microscopes in performing in situ studies has yet to come. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.