A multipurpose laboratory diffractometer for operando powder X-ray diffraction investigations of energy materials

Laboratory X-ray diffractometers are among the most widespread instruments in research laboratories around the world and are commercially available in different configurations and setups from various manufacturers. Advances in detector technology and X-ray sources push the data quality of in-house diffractometers and enable the collection of time-resolved scattering data during operando experiments. Here, the design and installation of a custom-built multipurpose laboratory diffractometer for the crystallographic characterization of battery materials are reported. The instrument is based on a Huber six-circle diffractometer equipped with a molybdenum microfocus rotating anode with 2D collimated parallel-beam X-ray optics and an optional two-bounce crystal monochromator. Scattered X-rays are detected with a hybrid single-photon-counting area detector (PILATUS 300K-W). An overview of the different diffraction setups together with the main features of the beam characteristics is given. Example case studies illustrate the flexibility of the research instrument for time-resolved operando powder X-ray diffraction experiments as well as the possibility to collect higher-resolution data suitable for diffraction line-profile analysis.