National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC

Abqmr, Inc.

Brennan J Walder

Todd M Alam

Eric G Sorte

Mark S Conradi

Electrochemical devices with metal casings have been considered incompatible with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy because the oscillating magnetic fields ('rf fields') responsible for excitation and detection of NMR active nuclei do not penetrate metals. According to the present invention, rf fields can still efficiently penetrate into nonmetallic layers of electrochemical cells (such as a coin cell battery configuration) provided the magnetic field is oriented tangentially to the electrochemical cell electrodes in a 'skimming' orientation. As an example, noninvasive high field in situLi andF NMR of an unmodified commercial off-the-shelf rechargeable coin cell was demonstrated using a traditional external NMR coil setup. The in operando NMR measurements revealed that irreversible physical changes accumulate at the anode during electrochemical cycling.

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Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

Brennan J Walder