EPR Imaging of Metallic Lithium and its Application to Dendrite Localisation in Battery Separators

Conduction Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (CEPRI) is presented as a sensitive technique for mapping metallic lithium species. The method is demonstrated using different samples that are either thick or thin compared to the microwave skin depth. As a thin sample, microstructured metallic lithium deposits in a lithium-ion battery (LIB) separator were analysed, illustrating the capabilities of CEPRI by obtaining a high-resolution image with an image resolution in the micrometre range. Limitations and intricacies of the method due to non-linear effects caused by the skin effect are discussed based on images of surface patterns on thick metallic lithium samples. The lineshape of the EPR spectrum is introduced as a proxy to determine the suitability of CEPRI for the quantitative visualisation of metallic lithium deposits. The results suggest that CEPRI is particularly suited to analyse the spatial distribution of microstructured Li that forms during charging and discharging of LIB cells, including the localization of the point of failure in the case of an internal cell short circuit caused by dendrites.