Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026

Elemental-sensitive Detection of the Chemistry in Batteries through Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
Published on: April 17, 2018
Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and X-ray absorption spectroscopy on the cathode materials LiMnPO4 and
H M Hollmark1, T Gustafsson, K Edström
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20, Uppsala, Sweden.
Abstract:
We present a study of the charge-state behavior of the Li-ion battery cathode materials Li(x)MnPO(4) and Li(x)Mn(0.9)Fe(0.1)PO(4) using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS). A set of six identical battery cathodes for each material have been cycled and left in different charge states in the range of x = 0.2…1.0 before disassembly in an Ar glove box. Unexpectedly, we find that the Mn 3d-bands are almost inert to the delithiation process, suggesting that Mn ions participate to a very small extent in the charge compensation process. In Li(x)Mn(0.9)Fe(0.1)PO(4) the Fe 3d-band shows much more response to delithiation than the Mn 3d-band. The O 2p-band hybridizes with the bands of the other ions in Li(x)MnPO(4) and Li(x)Mn(0.9)Fe(0.1)PO(4) and thus, indirectly, carries useful information about the effects of delithiation at all ion sites. We conclude that the redox reactions during lithiation/delithiation of these materials are complex and involve repopulation of charges for all constituent elements.
Related Concept Videos
Photoluminescence: Applications
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Lab

