Development of 4D Operando Optical Scattering Microscopy to Track Ion Dynamics and Phase Transition in Battery Electrodes

利用Rao集团在光学散射显微镜方面的最新发展，直接在单个颗粒水平上跟踪和量化电池材料中的离子动力学和相变，具有亚ms的时间分辨率和亚20 nm的空间分辨率。我们设想，这种新的显微镜方法，能够提供实时洞察纳米尺度的电子和结构相变，再加上其简单的基于实验室的实施，可以看到它成为一个不可或缺的工具，高通量材料发现和机械研究。该项目将以这一突破为基础，通过使用定量相位成像将方法扩展到包括所有三个空间维度（+1时间），这将使电池电极常见的复杂三维结构内的离子流研究成为可能。

Using recent developments in optical scattering microscopy in the Rao Group to track and quantify ion dynamics and phase transitions in battery materials directly at a single particle level, with sub-ms time-resolution and sub-20nm spatial resolution. We envision that this new microscopy methodology, with ability to provide real-time insights into nano-scale electronic and structural phase transitions, coupled with its straightforward lab-based implementation, could see it become an indispensable tool for high-throughput material discovery and mechanistic studies. The project will build on this breakthrough and extend the methodology to include all three spatial dimensions (+1 temporal) via use of quantitative phase imaging, which will enable the study of ion flow within the complex three-dimensional structures common to battery electrodes.