X-ray microscopy – A non-destructive high-resolution imaging to study the inner workings of batteries

X-ray Microscopy (XRM) is a non-destructive characterization technique that provides quantitative information regarding the morphology of the specimen and allows to perform multiscale and multimodal 2D/3D experiments exploiting the radiation-matter interactions. XRM is particularly suitable to provide in situ images of inner parts of a battery and for the early diagnosis of its degradation in a non-invasive way. Since traditional characterization techniques (SEM, AFM, etc) often require the removal of the battery case that may lead to non-desired contamination of the sample, the non-destructive multi-scale potential of XRM represents an important improvement on battery investigation. Here we present the advanced technical features that characterize a sub-micron X-ray microscopy system, and how it can be used to investigate hidden and internal structures of different types of batteries to understand their behavior and evolution after several charge/discharge cycles.