Nanoscale research gives laboratory equipment manufacturers battery insight

Laboratory equipment manufacturers could be given a greater understanding of how lithium ion batteries work and what makes one cell operate better than another, thanks to research carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Scientists at the research facility are looking into the microscopic differences between batteries which can cause one to work perfectly well while another might fail.

Their findings could have widespread implications for laboratory equipment manufacturers, due to the broad applications that lithium ion batteries have found in modern electronic devices.

Nina Balke, lead scientist on the project, says: "Very small changes at the nanometre level could have a huge impact at the device level. Understanding the batteries at this length scale could help make suggestions for materials engineering."

As part of their research, the team have developed a new method of microscopy, electrochemical strain microscopy, which looks at how lithium ions move through the cathode of the battery.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory was initially founded in 1943 to study the production and separation of plutonium as part of the Manhattan Project.