Abstract

Rechargeable batteries, particularly lithium-ion batteries, have become somewhat ubiquitous in our portable electronics in recent years and have been proposed for widespread application in vehicular applications and large-scale storage for the electricity grid. In order to meet the extra demands of these new applications improvements in battery performance are required, be it lighter or more flexible batteries, shorter charging times, lower cost components or the use of more environmentally sustainable materials. All these requirements necessitate development of new, optimised electrode materials. In this talk, I will focus on how we can use crystallographic studies of batteries during operation to understand, on the atomic scale, how the structure of a material affects its performance in a battery, and how we can use this information to propose improved materials for use in battery technologies.