Abstract

Rechargeable battery technologies have revolutionized the electronics, transportation, and grid energy storage. While many materials are being researched for battery applications, layered transition metal oxides (LTMO) are the dominating cathode candidate with remarkable electrochemical performance. Yet, daunting challenges persist in the quest for further battery developments targeting lower cost, longer lifespan, improved energy density, and enhanced safety. This is in part due to the intrinsic complexity in real-world batteries, featuring sophisticated interplay among microstructural, compositional, and chemical heterogeneities, which motivates tremendous research efforts using state-of-the-art analytical techniques.

In this research field, synchrotron techniques are identified as a suite of effective methods for advanced battery characterization in a nondestructive manner with sensitivities to the lattice, electronic, and morphological structures. This article provides a holistic overview of the cutting-edge developments in synchrotron-based research on LTMO battery cathode materials. We discuss the complexity and evolution of LTMO’s material properties upon battery operation and review recent synchrotron-based research works that address the frontier challenges and provide novel insights in this field. Finally, we formulate a perspective on the future directions of synchrotron-based battery research, involving the next-generation X-ray facilities and advanced computational developments.