Operando X-ray correlative imaging and processing of 3D structures inside lithium batteries

Date: 27^th August, 2026 (Thursday)

Time: 5 - 6 pm (HKT)

 

Venue: Lecture Theatre P2, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building

 

 

Department of Chemistry

Imperial College London

 

Chun Ann Huang holds an BSc in Materials Science and Engineering (1st Class Honors) at Imperial College London (ICL), and PhD in Materials Science at the University of Oxford. She was a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at King’s College London, and Senior Lecturer and Reader (Associate Professor) at the Department of Materials/ ICL. She has been promoted to Professor of Energy Storage Materials at ICL, effective from Sept. 2026. Her research includes new materials, operando X-ray correlative imaging, and sustainable processing technologies of energy devices (e.g. lithium ion batteries, solid-state batteries, sodium ion batteries, lithium sulfur batteries, etc.). She has been awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant, ERC Starting Grant, UK EPSRC Open Fellowship, Royal Society of Chemistry's Marlow Prize (2025), and Armourers & Brasiers’ Venture Prize (2026). She is also co-I of the UK Faraday Institution programmes Nextrode and LEAP.

 

It is conventionally difficult to measure lithium ion concentrations inside standard battery cell configurations using X-rays because the weak signals of lithium cannot be distinguished from the strong signals of other heavy transition metal elements that are present in batteries. Here, we show a novel operando correlative imaging technique of X-ray Compton scattering-computed tomography (XCS-CT) that maps lithium ion concentration distributions and 3D electrode microstructural changes and lithium dendrite growth inside batteries during charging and discharging. The XCS-CT imaging is complemented by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and cryo-plasma focused ion beam (cryo-PFIB) to study effects of pressure inside batteries on lithium chemical distributions and physical structures. Using the insights uncovered by characterisation, we develop two advanced processing methods to make electrode microstructure that speeds up lithium ion diffusion, one is directional ice templating for making electrodes with vertical pores for lithium ion batteries with liquid electrolyte, and the other is directional freezing and polymerisation for fabricating cathodes with vertical columns of cathode material and solid polymer electrolyte for solid-state lithium metal batteries. The method directly incorporates the solid polymer electrolyte in the electrode structure within a single process.