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Researchers from the UK and US have made a major breakthrough in our understanding of a potentially game-changing battery material that could shake up the market for electric vehicles. Using a super-powerful electron microscope that can pinpoint single atoms a million times smaller than a human hair, researchers have now identified the structure of lithium-and manganese-rich transition metal oxides.

These materials can potentially be used to make batteries with capacities double that of the most commonly used Lithium-ion batteries which, despite being important sources for energy storage for consumer electronics and transportation, have not caught up with the demand for the world's energy consumption over the last couple of decades.

The research was carried out in large parts at the SuperSTEM National Facility, which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and located at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory, at Sci-Tech Daresbury in Cheshire. SuperSTEM National Facility is home to a super-powerful electron microscope that is one of only three in the world.

Professor Quentin Ramasse, Director at SuperSTEM, said: “This research, which solves a decade-long debate about the structure of lithium-and manganese-rich transition metal oxides, could mean that the battery life in electric cars will last considerably longer in the very near future: longer range, more convenience, all should contribute to more of those green vehicles on the road and a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We need to know what goes on at the atomic scale in order to understand the macroscopic behaviour of such new emerging materials and the advanced electron microscopes available at national facilities such as SuperSTEM are essential in making sure their potential is fully realised.”

Previous studies about this material have been ambiguous, but using the state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques at SuperSTEM and at Berkeley Lab’s National Center for Electron Microscopy, the researchers successfully imaged the material one atom a time, from all possible directions, to gather the three-dimensional information needed to solve the material’s structure.

Alpesh Khushalchand Shukla from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States is lead author of the paper and a visiting research associate at SuperSTEM. He said: “In spite of its increased capacity, the battery industry has so far been reluctant to introduce this new chemistry for commercial applications due to practical issues such as voltage and capacity fade or DC resistance rise. By solving the surface and bulk structure of this material, we have inched closer to mitigating these issues”

The results of this research, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, have been published in Nature Communications. View the full Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory press release.

Contact

Wendy Ellison
STFC Press Officer
Tel: 01925 603232 / 07919 548012

SuperSTEM

SuperSTEM is the EPSRC National Facility for Aberration Corrected STEM and is run by a consortium of universities, consisting of Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Oxford. The core consortium is complemented through other collaboration agreements with the external partner universities Cambridge, Sheffield, Warwick and York and the facility has received £4.5M funding from EPSRC.

SuperSTEM consists of a principal site facility hosting two aberration corrected STEM instruments in a purpose-designed building at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory, along with four aberration-corrected STEM instruments located at the consortium universities and further instruments located at the partner universities.

Access to SuperSTEM is free at the point of use for EPSRC eligible UK researchers and their collaborators or RCUK ticket holders. Other access is subject to funding. It also welcomes applications from commercial institutions.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

As the main funding agency for engineering and physical sciences research, our vision is for the UK to be the best place in the world to Research, Discover and Innovate.

By investing £800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, we are building the knowledge and skills base needed to address the scientific and technological challenges facing the nation. Our portfolio covers a vast range of fields from healthcare technologies to structural engineering, manufacturing to mathematics, advanced materials to chemistry. The research we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture.

We work collectively with our partners and other Research Councils on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.