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New imaging method reveals how lithium-metal batteries lose capacity over time

Lithium-metal batteries have not hit the market yet, but if they do, they could be a solution to the everyday woes of the dwindling battery meter. They are cousins of the lithium-ion batteries found in legions of everyday electronic devices, but with the potential to hold twice as much power. Unfortunately, the lithium-metal battery’s limited number of recharges has been a major obstacle to their wide adoption.

A new study led by researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, or CNSI, however, might just help ratchet up the pace of progress. In the journal Science Advances, the team documented an they invented that—for the first time ever—captures a lithium-metal battery as it charges, at a level of detail smaller than the wavelength of light.

The method, electrified , or eCryoEM for short, yielded insights that may help guide the design of better lithium-metal batteries. Cultivating this progress with U.S.-based research could give the U.S. an edge in this successor technology to , an industry currently dominated by Chinese enterprises. The study also holds promise for shedding light on mysteries in disciplines as far afield as neuroscience.

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