Materialographic Preparation of Lithium-Carbon Intercalation Compounds

Abstract The materialographic investigation of anode materials for rechargeable lithium ion batteries is a significant step in the understanding and development of electrode materials, but made dramatically more difficult due to the high reactivity of the materials involved. In this work a method is presented which permits the metallographic preparation of the lithium-carbon intercalation compounds used as anode materials in today's rechargeable lithium ion batteries, and which allows the details of their microstructures to be contrasted. After classic, but absolutely water free, preparation in a protective gas atmosphere, the final stage of preparation is carried out using both ion beam polishing and manual polishing on a stationary polishing disc, whereby no significant differences of the quality of the microstructural images obtained is apparent.