Public deliverable: Post-mortem analysis protocols

The  present deliverable describes  the  procedures that will be  applied to  GEN0, GEN1, GEN2 and GEN3 cells  after the ageing tests  described in D6.2. Post-mortem (and in some cases  ante-mortem)  analysis  includes  the  safe  opening  of  batteries,  the separation/extraction  of  the  different  cell components  (electrodes,  separators,  and electrolyte) and their sampling within the whole batteries for analysis by different partners. Different techniques will be used for the observation (SEM, SEM-FIB) and analysis of bulk materials (XRD, NMR) and interfacial layers (XPS, RAMAN, EDX) to  understand  (and minimize)  the  degradation  phenomena  occurring  within  the   batteries  (Electrolyte
degradation, cathode dissolution, aluminium corrosion, pore clogging within separator and electrodes, loss of electrode cohesion, particles cracking …) depending on the cell design and test conditions. Finally, if the electrode cohesion allows it, lab-scale cells (half-cells and full Li-ion) will be
assembled  using  aged  electrodes  samples  from  different  sampling  areas. Their electrochemical characterization,  using fresh electrolyte and separator,  will  provide similar parameters to those acquired during the ageing tests for the modelling task and allow, in addition, a rough mapping of electrode performance decay within the cells.