Electro-Chemo-Mechanics of Si Single Crystal Litiation: Operando Tracking of Strain, Mosaicity, Phases and Microstructural Evolution in Soli

The main goal is to analyze Si structural transformations during lithiation using Dark Field X-ray Microscopy at ID03. Despite silicon anodes' technological potential, our understanding of electro-chemo-mechanical phenomena, including strain formation, new phase evolution, amorphization, and re-crystallization, is limited during charge and discharge cycles. This experiment will develop an operando cell with coarse-grained Si crystallites for ID03. Using near- and far-field detectors, individual Si crystals will be selected, and their structural transformations during lithiation will be tracked. The key inquiry is identifying initiation points and assessing homogeneity across individual Si single crystals. The overarching aim is to address strain- and transformation-related challenges hindering silicon's performance in next-gen solid-state batteries (SSBs).