TEST & ANALYSIS
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“The team has developed a suite of tools in
the areas of electrochemical characterization,
microscopy, spectroscopy and imaging”
Dr James Robinson, Royal Academy of Engineering UKIC Research Fellow
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // July 2019 // 131
semiconductor industry invested heavily in
advanced methods of manufacture and
pioneered novel techniques tailored to probe
the functional and fundamental nature of
semiconductor performance; the battery
industry must now do the same” Shearing says.
“At the vanguard of the technological
advancements has been the ability to
interrogate, diagnose and eff ectively look
inside these devices. The rate of performance
improvement has been incremental for
electrochemical power sources and the
development of targeted diagnostic techniques
requires more attention. This is a major driver
for the EIL and is being addressed through
recent funding from the Faraday Institution to
develop advanced characterization techniques
for batteries,” he adds.
Health check
To achieve the insights required to progress the
fi eld of electrochemical power, the EIL has
recently established the Electrochemical
Forensics and Diagnostics Lab (EFD-Lab). Led
by Dr James Robinson, a Royal Academy of
Engineering UKIC Research Fellow, the
EFD-Lab off ers a suite of advanced
characterization tools, world-leading expertise
and the analytical processes required to
understand operation, failure modes, perform
teardown analysis and do the metrology
required to discover better materials,
components and devices.
“Over the last ten years, working closely with
the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the
team has developed a suite of tools in the areas
of electrochemical characterization,
microscopy, spectroscopy and imaging
techniques that can be applied over multiple
length scales. The comprehensive approach
allows three key questions to be addressed:
How does the battery or module work? Why
did it fail? How can we improve performance?”
explains Robinson.
The EIL defi nes ‘forensic’ investigations to
be studies that identify the failure or mode of
degradation that has occurred; these often
amount to a post-mortem examination and
include battery disassembly down to atomiclevel
analysis of material properties.
“This class of analysis isolates the source of
the failure and includes teardown studies to
identify patent infringement and can facilitate
reverse engineering. ‘Diagnostic’ refers to
techniques that monitor operation and are
ideally performed in situ (measured in-place
using sensors and probes that target the
location and mechanism of interest) and in
operando (while the component or device is
operational),” says Robinson.
Professor Dan Brett, co-director of the EIL,
also explains how the processes employed in
the EFD-Lab have a lot in common with
getting medical advice.
“Say a company comes to the EIL with a ‘sick
battery’, the product of years of development
work and a testing program that does not
explain the symptoms. They want to know why
2. The Forensics and
Diagnostics Lab performs
comprehensive analysis
of a power system’s
components
3. Scanning equipment is
used to conduct high level
analysis of components
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