“X-ray Coulomb Counting” to Understand Electrochemical Systems

Electrochemical systems are important for a sustainable and defossilized energy system of the future. While accurate and precise, the corresponding electrochemical measurements, in which many reactions may occur simultaneously, often do not contain enough information to understand the underlying mechanism and processes. This information, however, is crucial toward rational materials and devices as well as process development and for inventing innovative concepts. In this perspective, we introduce explicitly the concept of “X-ray Coulomb Counting”, in which X-ray methods are used to quantify on an absolute scale how much charge is transferred into which reactions during the electrochemical measurements. This allows one to interpret the electrochemical measurements in detail and obtain the desired phenomenological and mechanistic understanding. We show a few recent examples from the Li-ion battery literature in which the concept of X-ray Coulomb Counting was employed to obtain foundational understanding.