Sample environment for operando solid-state battery characterization

All-solid-state batteries provide new hope for developing electrical energy storage far beyond the current state of the art. Here, we present a new sample environment developed for operando and in situ investigations of solid-state batteries, allowing for simultaneous collection of X-ray diffraction and electrochemical data along with temperature control and stack pressure monitoring. The Aarhus pressure temperature operandoX-ray, APTOX, cell has a 35° 2θ opening, allowing for measurement of high-quality powder X-ray diffraction data to obtain valuable information on structural changes during battery cycling. We present two different variants of the APTOX cell: APTOX-Pmon with the ability to monitor the applied stack pressure for advanced applications and APTOX-Spring with a spring system to apply constant mechanical pressure. The APTOX cell is compatible with different X-ray window configurations, allowing for tailoring of the X-ray background and attenuation, as well as different physical properties depending on the optimal conditions for the system of interest. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability by presenting operando powder X-ray diffraction data obtained using both an in-house diffractometer equipped with an Ag Kα₁X-ray source and a synchrotron source at MAX IV, Lund, Sweden.