Operando Bragg Coherent Diffraction Imaging of Li ionic order in high-voltage cathode materials

High voltage cathode materials such as spinel LiMn1.5Ni0.5O4 (LMNO) is considered to be an attractive candidate for future use in lithium-ion batteries (LIB) due to its relatively large theoretical capacity and low material cost. Here we propose to study reversible redox processes and lithium deintercalation occurring in the cathode nanoparticles in operando conditions during charging using Bragg Coherent Diffraction Imaging (BCDI). The obtained data on strain transformation that takes place inside a single nanoparticle would give us valuable information about the change of lithium ionic order and phase evolution at nanoscale.