Secondary Electron Hyperspectral Imaging of Carbons: New Insights and Good Practice Guide
Energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) incorporate carbon components key to their function. Graphite and carbon binder components in LIB electrodes are engineered to deliver critical electrical and mechanical properties, as are the surface chemistry and morphology of carbon blacks (CBs) in LIBs and catalysts. The challenge of relating surface chemistry to morphology is complicated by the numerous forms of carbon bonding and potential for surface functional groups. Furthermore, materials processing can influence bonding and structure of carbon at multiple length scales, as seen in mechanochemical functionalization of CBs. To understand the nature of carbon surfaces, secondary electron hyperspectral imaging (SEHI) is introduced as a spatially resolved analysis bridging the nano to microscale. The ability to provide novel insights is demonstrated three example applications: observation of nanoscale "satellite" particles of amorphous hydrogenated carbon on graphitic CB particles, differentiation between graphitic and amorphous hydrogenated nano-thickness carbon coatings on particles of lithium iron phosphate, and differentiation between graphitic carbon active material and carbon binder domain in a LIB anode material. SEHI analysis using peak fitting models for graphitic and disordered carbons is developed based on reference materials and standard spectroscopic methods: Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
Authors
- Andrew Pratt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0795-2640)
- Lyudmila Mihaylova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5856-2223)
- Cornelia Rodenburg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9590-375X)
- James Nohl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0558-5258)
- Serena A. Cussen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9303-4220)
- Sean Murphy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6305-2869)
- Nicole Hondow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9368-2538)
- Maria Rosaria Acocella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6917-2271)
- Alexander J. Knight (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-2722)
- Gareth M. Hughes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7232-8561)
- Stuart Robertson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5591-369X)
- Zuzana Pokorná (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2413-6944)
- Nancy L. Ford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6450-1291)
- Stuart Micklethwaite (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7335-2785)
- Nik Reeves‐McLaren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1061-1230)
- Jingqiong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2980-8145)
- Filip Mika (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-2929)
- C.G.H. Walker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5040-1035)
- S. P. Tear (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1535-1327)
- Nicholas T. H. Farr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6761-3600)
- A. I. Tartakovskii (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4169-5510)
- Mark A. Jepson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0015-2413)
- Tereza Motlová
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of Salerno (IT)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Loughborough University (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Scientific Instruments (CZ)
- Insigneo (GB)
- The Faraday Institution (GB)
- University of York (GB)
- Brno University of Technology (CZ)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-06-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202501907
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.98
Funders
- Faraday Institution
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- University of Oxford
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology
- Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy
- Akademie Věd České Republiky
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- National Physical Laboratory