Author Description

A Raman microscope has been coupled to a computer-controlled, two-dimensional linear translator attached to a custom-designed, sealed optical chamber to allow in situ acquisition of space-, and time-resolved spectra of an operating thin graphite/LiCoO2 Li-ion battery. This unique arrangement made it possible to collect continuously series of Raman spectra from a sharply defined edge of the battery exposing the anode (A), separator (S), and cathode (C), during charge and discharge, while the device was moved back and forth under the fixed focused laser beam along an axis normal to the layered A/S/C plane. Clear spectral evidence was obtained for changes in the amount of Li(+) within particles of graphite in the anode, and, to a lesser extent, of LiCoO2 in the cathode, during battery discharge both as a function of position and time. Analysis of time-resolved Raman spectro-micro-topography (SMT) measurements of the type described in this work are expected to open new prospects for assessing the validity of theoretical models aimed at simulating the flow of Li(+) within Li-ion batteries under operating conditions.