Improving lithium-ion batteries – that’s one of the many research projects the Canadian Light Source on the USask campus is involved in.

A team of scientists from the United States, Germany and Canada are tackling the challenge of reliable energy storage, and they are trying to understand why lithium-ion batteries fail and how they can be improved.

Texas A&M researcher, David Santos, notes that building a better battery touches all aspects of sustainability. He explains that the chemical and mechanical changes that occur in a battery’s lifetime can lead to flaws, affecting its longevity.

Using a synchrotron beamline, Santos says the team was able to see the flaws and map defects that occur within the batteries, which gives them a better understanding of how they can be improved.