A demonstration study of lithium-ion battery by neutron depth profiling with a low flux neutron source

Le résumé fourni par la source

Neutron Depth Profiling (NDP) is an analytical neutron technique that continues to grow in popularity for the quantification of Li ions in lithium-ion battery (LIB) materials. Most investigations occur at high flux neutron sources, i.e. cold or thermal neutron beam facilities, offered by high-power (10-20 MW) research reactors and employing multiple NDP energy and concentration standards. This work aims to develop a feasible method using NDP facilities with less intense neutron flux at lower power research reactors to quantitatively determine the Li concentration in LIB materials, while also applying a “thick” energy and concentration standard. Here, we describe a methodology for processing and calibrating NDP data collected using a multi-detector (i.e., 7-detector setup), which is essential to increase the detection efficiency. The Li concentration of a Li6PS5Cl0.5Br0.5 solid-state electrolyte was determined to be 2.2×1022 Li atoms cm−3. This value deviated by less than 3% of the expected Li atom concentration using a “thick” LiF single crystal wafer as a concentration standard. The method described in this work can be applied to other low-power reactors and other NDP-sensitive isotopes to further increase the application and availability of user-based NDP facilities.

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