Powder XRD

The setup to be procured is Bruker D8 ADVANCE with electrochemical cell for transmission and reflection set. The School of Chemical Engineering (CHEM) of Aalto University needs a custom-designed setup, mainly targeted for operando battery studies of novel electrodes and electrolytes. In addition, the setup will be also used for all kinds of powder x-ray diffraction (”XRD”) measurements when not operando mode (”Powder XRD”). Thereof operando battery measurements refer to circumstances where the studied component is continuously charged and discharged -like a real battery in use- and at the same time, dozens of XRD patterns are being recorded to observe the changes the material goes under. The Powder XRD is required for research in battery technology at CHEM consisting of three main components: positive and negative electrodes and the electrolyte between them. In the field of chemistry and materials science, it is quite common to study only one of the electrodes (positive or negative, depending on the present interest). Electrochemically these are called half cells, and in XRD terminology, these measurements are conducted in reflection mode, which can be considered also as the standard mode for Powder XRD. CHEM’s electrochemical research, e.g. in all-solid-state-battery, is moving increasingly towards self-made, new electrodes and electrolyte materials, assembled into a full battery system. The structural stability and behaviour studies under charge-discharge of a self-made battery is achieved through transmission XRD measurements. Half-cell setup allows to study only one of the electrodes, thus the performance of the whole electrochemical cell (incl. both electrodes and the electrolyte), the battery, remains unknown.