An emerging frontier of battery innovation: tackling lattice rotation in single-crystalline cathodes

Due to a lack of spatially resolved characterization studies on statistical and individual particle microstructure at multiple scales, a knowledge gap exists in understanding the mechanistic link between rapid performance failure and atomic-scale structure degradation in single-crystalline Ni-rich battery cathodes. In a recent publication in Science, Huang et al. developed a multi-crystal rocking curve technique (combining X-ray and electron microscopy to capture both statistical and individual lattice distortions), which enables multiscale observations and further proves that the accumulation of the unrecoverable lattice rotation in cathodes upon repeated cycling exacerbates mechanical failure and electrochemical decay. The elucidation of failure mechanisms in single-crystalline cathodes offers valuable insights into the development of long-lasting and high-energy-density cathodes in next-generation batteries, encompassing strategies to mitigate lattice rotation and enhance lattice structure tolerance against lattice distortion within individual particles.