Argonne Lab unveils technique to track battery aging in real time

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From ESS News

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have developed and shown a new way to monitor battery degradation using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. This marks the first application of this technique to track chemical changes in commercial pouch cells during operation.

The method allows manufacturers to study battery aging without dismantling cells, providing insights into how electrode materials and electrolytes evolve over months or years of use.

This capability arrives as manufacturers work to integrate silicon anodes into electric vehicle batteries to increase energy density. And, NMR is common in medical imaging, making it a more mature technology, and is a nondestructive and noninvasive technique.

“NMR applications in batteries have been limited until now,” says Argonne chemist Baris Key and one of the authors of the newly published paper on the topic. “This capability could become standard practice for researchers and manufacturers who need to probe battery evolution without cell teardown.”

The research team demonstrated the technique on silicon-anode cells through seven months of cycling. Their findings revealed that lithium atoms become trapped in the anode during charging, forming lithium silicides that reduce the cell’s storage capacity.

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