Probe for operando in situ electrochemical nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
| DWPI Title: Probe for operando in situ electrochemical nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, has tuned circuit that matches pulsed radio frequency (RF) excitation signal from NMR spectrometer to transmission line coil |
| Abstract: 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 situ 7Li and 19F 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. |
| Use: For operando in situ electrochemical nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of electrochemical cells such as batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors and electrochemical sensors. |
| Advantage: The probe enables non-invasive chemical analysis for a wide variety of cell chemistries, thus providing a diagnostic tool for simple, noninvasive evaluation of electrochemical cell health. The probe can be used for in situ and in operando NMR measurement of an unmodified commercial coin cell battery during electrochemical cycling, thus improving the performance, reliability, and sustainability of future device chemistries. |
| Novelty: The probe has a transmission line coil comprising two anti-parallel planar conductors for inserting an electrochemical cell between the conductors. The coil applies a radio frequency (RF) magnetic field tangentially to parallel electrodes of the cell when a pulsed RF excitation signal from a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer is applied to the coil. A tuned circuit that matches the pulsed signal from the spectromer to the line coil. The line coil has a folded ribbon resonator and a flattened solenoid coil, where the gap has an electrolyte and a separator. |
| Filed: 2/2/2021 |
| Application Number: US17165099A |
| Tech ID: SD 15381.2 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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