Investigation of Lithiated Carbons by Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe microstructures of lithiated synthetic graphite and carbon black were studied by high- resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Information about the crystal structure of carbon containing various Li compositions can provide useful insights to our understanding of the Li storage mechanism in carbonaceous materials. Samples with compositions of Li0.93C6or Li0.45C6 were found to contain both stage-one and stage-two compounds. These observations are consistent with XRD data. The changes in sample microstructure as the results of lithiation and exposure to electron irradiation were observed by TEM and recorded over several minutes in the microscope environment. Selected area electron diffraction patterns indicated that the lithiated samples quickly changed composition to LiC 24, which appeared to dominate during the brief analysis period. The layer planes in the lattice image of a disordered carbon black after Li insertion are poorly defined, and changes in the microstructure of these lithiated carbons was not readily apparent. Observations on these lithium intercalation compounds as well as the limitation of the experimental procedure will be presented.