The increased demand for portable electronic devices, including mobile phones, laptops and new ‘wearables’, has required advances in battery technology to provide a low-cost, lightweight, long-lasting and stable power source. With fossil fuels dwindling and CO2 regulations becoming more stringent, battery technology is increasingly being used in applications such as renewable energy storage and electric vehicles, which require ever more lightweight, safe, high-power and fast-charging batteries.

Since Li-ion batteries are complex, multi-component materials, manufactured using multi-step processes then optimizing performance and safety can be challenging. Comprehensive analytical characterization is therefore required at each stage of the manufacturing or development process to provide a secure foundation for tackling these challenges. This requires a range of complementary techniques for quantifying the properties of individual materials, components, and process streams.

Here, Malvern Panalytical introduce their toolkit for Li-ion batteries and discuss how they can help address many of the development and manufacturing challenges.