CHEMPHYSCHEM ARTICLES DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201400023

Sample Preparation of Energy Materials for X-ray Nanotomography with Micromanipulation Yu-chen Karen Chen-Wiegart,[a] Fernando E. Camino,[b] and Jun Wang*[a] X-ray nanotomography presents an unprecedented opportunity to study energy storage/conversion materials at nanometer scales in three dimensions, with both elemental and chemical sensitivity. A critical step in obtaining high-quality X-ray nanotomography data is reliable sample preparation to ensure that the entire sample fits within the field of view of the X-ray microscope. Although focused-ion-beam lift-out has previously been used for large sample (few to tens of microns) preparation, a difficult undercut and lift-out procedure results in a time-consuming sample preparation process. Herein, we pro-

pose a much simpler and direct sample preparation method to resolve the issues that block the view of the sample base after milling and during the lift-out process. This method is applied on a solid-oxide fuel cell and a lithium-ion battery electrode, before numerous critical 3D morphological parameters are extracted, which are highly relevant to their electrochemical performance. A broad application of this method for microstructure study with X-ray nanotomography is discussed and presented.

1. Introduction X-ray nanotomography is a powerful tool for revealing the internal structure of solid-state materials in 3D at an unprecedented 3D spatial resolution of sub 50 nm.[1, 2] For energy storage and -conversion materials, such as battery and fuel cell electrodes, 3D morphological quantification provides insights that cannot be obtained from 2D images, such as visualizing cracks and quantifying volume changes in batteries[3–5] as well as quantifying the triple-phase boundary (TPB) density in solidoxide fuel cells (SOFCs).[6, 7] Moreover, it is often critical to not only study the 3D morphology but also to understand the spatial distribution of chemical species in 3D. With the tunable Xray energy available at synchrotron sources, X-ray nanotomography has been successfully applied to reveal elementally and chemically sensitive information in energy storage/conversion materials including lithium-ion battery electrodes and SOFCs.[8–10] Because tomographic measurements involve rotating the sample with a total angular range of 1808 to record hundreds or even thousands of X-ray projections, to obtain high-quality 3D data it is critical to ensure that the sample size is smaller than the field of view of the microscope in the lateral directions during the entire measurement. The field of view for X-ray nanotomography is typically on the order of tens of microns. Therefore, the sample preparation becomes a crucial [a] Dr. Y.-c. K. Chen-Wiegart, Dr. J. Wang Photon Sciences Directorate Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, 11973 (USA) Fax: (+ 1) 631 344 3238 E-mail: [email protected] [b] Dr. F. E. Camino Center for Functional Nanomaterials Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (USA) Supporting Information for this article is available on the WWW under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201400023.

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step to successfully resolve fine features at nanometer scales in X-ray nanotomography. Micromanipulation using the dual-beam system, focused-ion beam and scanning electron microscopy (FIB–SEM), has been widely applied in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation[11, 12] and recently in X-ray nanotomography sample preparation.[13, 14] However, the length scale of X-ray nanotomography and TEM imaging are significantly different; the typical sample size in X-ray nanotomography ranges from a few micrometers to tens of micrometers, which is much larger than a typical TEM sample thickness. As a result, current X-ray nanotomography sample preparation methods that use FIB lift-out face great difficulties in the undercut and lift-out procedures following FIB milling, largely because the base of the sample is buried under the large structure. This is mainly attributed to that fact that these methods typically involve milling the sample from the central position of the bulk sample and the base of the milled sample cannot be easily accessed. As a result, the sample preparation for X-ray nanotomography becomes time-consuming and challenging. Herein, we present a novel approach for X-ray nanotomography sample preparation using FIB milling and lift-out. Instead of following the TEM sample preparation of milling the sample from the central positions and carrying out an undercut at a tilted angle, the region of interest is milled out from the edge or a cross-section position, at which the base of the sample is readily visible during the following undercut and liftout. The resulting high-quality 3D volume data can be used to extract critical 3D morphological parameters such as volume fractions, feature size distribution, surface area, surface-tovolume ratio, tortuosity, and phase-boundary densities. The physical and chemical properties of the energy storage and -conversion devices, such as their charge-transfer resistance ChemPhysChem 2014, 15, 1587 – 1591

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CHEMPHYSCHEM ARTICLES and long-term stability, may be determined from these 3D parameters. As a result, the 3D parameters affect the performance of these devices. Our method is tested on various samples including SOFCs and lithium-ion battery electrodes. This sample preparation is proven to be simple, efficient, and highly reproducible, which can be widely used by researchers in any fields that use X-ray nanotomography.

www.chemphyschem.org sample from the base of the materials, as shown in Figure 1 E. By lowering the sample stage, the cylindrical sample was fully separated from its base bulk material, which was then held by the micromanipulator (Figure 1 F). The sample was brought to a sharp tungsten pin (Cascade Microtech, Inc, Figure 1 G) and welded onto the pin by using Pt deposition, as shown in Figure 1 H. Finally, the sample was released from the micromanipulator by a gentle cut on the Pt welding between the sample and the micromanipulator. A more detailed step-by-step procedure can be found in the Supporting Information.

Experimental Section Sample Preparation for X-ray Nanotomography The X-ray nanotomography sample preparation consisted of two major stages. First, the FIB milling was carried out to create a cylindrical volume of interest. Second, the lift-out process was used to transfer the milled sample onto a mounting pin with a micromanipulator. Figure 1 shows the images from SEM and FIB imaging, recorded during the entire sample preparation process of a Sn-based battery-electrode sample. The procedure is detailed as follows.

X-ray Nanotomography After the FIB lift-out procedure, the cylindrical sample mounted on the sample mounting pin could then be directly transferred to a transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) to perform the nanotomography measurement. The TXM beamline, X8C of National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory with a field of view of 40  40 mm2, was used to carry out the nanotomography measurement.[1] A total of four different samples are presented herein, with tomographic reconstructions. The first three samples were prepared by using the FIB lift-out method shown in this paper to demonstrate that this sample preparation method is indeed suitable for a wide range of samples. These three samples include: 1) a SOFC sample consisting of a three-layer structure, that is, anode [Ni–yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)], electrolyte (YSZ), and cathode [lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM)–YSZ];[7, 15] 2) a lithium-ion battery anode Sn composite (Sn–conductive carbon binder); and 3) a lithium-ion battery cathode, LiCoO2–Li(Ni1/3 Mn1/3Co1/3)O2 (LCO–NMC).[3, 10] For each sample, a cylindrical region of interest was prepared with diameter of about 35 mm, smaller than the 40  40 mm2 field of view of the TXM. In addition, a LCO–NMC sample was prepared without FIB lift-out method for comparison. This LCO–NMC electrode was hand-cut into a sharp-wedge shape by using a razor blade and glued onto a steel pin by using epoxy. The tip of the wedge sample was about 50–60 mm, slightly larger than the field of view. The reconstructed image from the non-FIB sample was then compared with the one from FIB-prepared LCO–NMC sample in order to judge the image quality improvement when using the FIB lift-out sample preparation method.

Figure 1. SEM and FIB images of the sample preparation procedure, in which a battery electrode sample is shown as an example. A) Surface of the battery before milling, B) after 2 h milling, C) after 8 h milling, D) micromanipulator attached to the end of the milled sample, E) release of the milled sample from the bulk sample, F) milled sample on micromanipulator, G) milled sample brought to the mounting pin, H) milled sample attached to the mounting pin by Pt deposition, and I) release of the mounted sample from the micro-manipulator

First, the FIB milling was carried out near the edge of the sample. Figure 1 A shows the representative milling region. The red dashed line indicates the corner of the sample and the gray donut shape indicates the pattern used to mill a cylindrical sample. As the materials on the edge were completely removed during the milling process, the height of the milled cylinder could be directly monitored during the milling process (Figure 1 B and Figure 1 C). This also provided easy access to undercut and lift-out the volume of interest. Following the milling process, the lift-out process was carried out by gently attaching the micromanipulator to the top of the cylindrical milled sample (Figure 1 D), by using Pt deposition welding. The undercut could then be applied to release the cylindrical

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For each tomography measurement, a total of 1441 projections over a 1808 angular range were collected with an X-ray energy of 8–8.4 keV, depending on the sample. A 2k  2k charge-coupled device camera was used to record the TXM projections with a camera binning of two. The reconstruction of the 3D images was then carried out by using standard filtered back-projection algorithm. The 3D morphological analysis was performed by using Matlab (R2012a, MathWorks) programs developed in house, freeware ImageJ, and commercial package Avizo (v.6.2.0, VSG).

2. Results and Discussions 2.1. 3D X-ray Nanotomography and Reconstruction Figure 2 shows the TXM projections of all four samples. Figure 2 (A–C) shows the three samples prepared by FIB milling and lift-out. As a result of the sample preparation, the samples along their diameter direction remain entirely in the field of view of the TXM (40 mm) during the entire tomographic measurement. On the contrary, Figure 2 D shows the TXM projection image of the LCO–NMC sample, which was not prepared ChemPhysChem 2014, 15, 1587 – 1591

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Figure 3. 3D rendering of the reconstruction of A) SOFC consisting of anode (Ni-Y-SZ), electrolyte (YSZ), and cathode (LSM–YSZ), B) LCO–NMC cathode for a lithium-ion battery, and C) Sn-based anode for a lithium-ion battery.

Figure 2. TXM projections of samples prepared by FIB milling and lift-out. A) SOFC sample consisting of anode (Ni–YSZ), electrolyte (YSZ), and cathode (LSM–YSZ), B) a Sn-based anode for a lithium-ion battery, and C) a LCO–NMC cathode for lithium-ion battery. D) TXM projection of a LCO–NMC cathode sample cut by using a razor blade; the sample size is larger than the field of view of the TXM

terial. A comparison of histograms from these two methods is shown in Figure 4 D. The peaks corresponding to Ni and YSZ show a better separation in the FIB sample than in the non-FIB sample. As a result, image segmentation using the threshold method performed on the data shown in Figure 4 C will have a higher error because of the significant overlap between the Ni and YSZ peaks, leading to difficulties in quantitative analysis. This again demonstrates the importance of sample preparation for X-ray nanotomography.

2.2. 3D Morphological Parameters Relevant to Electrochemical Behavior by using the FIB lift-out, in which the sample size exceeds the Based on a reconstructed 3D volume, critical 3D morphology size of the TXM field of view. As a result, part of the sample parameters that are relevant to the electrochemical behavior was moving in and out of the field of view, which introduces of the electrode materials can be measured or calculated. errors and noise later in the tomographic reconstruction. These parameters include, but are not limited to, volume fracThe reconstructions of all the three samples prepared by tions of different phases, phase-feature size distribution,[16] surusing FIB are shown in Figure 3 by volume rendering. The reface area, surface-to-volume ratio (specific area, Sv), average constructed images show distinctive contrast between phases feature size, tortuosity,[17] and phase-boundary densities (such with a good signal-to-noise ratio. This can also be observed in the pseudo-cross-sections from the reconstruction, as shown in Figure 4 (A and B), where the SOFC and LCO–NMC samples prepared by FIB lift-out show little noise and the quantitative morphological analysis can be carried out to segment and study the detailed nanostructures. Without the FIB lift-out sample preparation to ensure the suitable sample size, the resulting images may be much noisier. Figure 4 C shows the reconstructed pseudo-cross-section of the non-FIB sample of the LCO–NMC electrode. The noise level in Figure 4 C (non-FIB Figure 4. Pseudo-cross-sections and 3D segmented views of the reconstruction. Pseudo-cross-sections of A) SOFC sample) is much more significant consisting of anode (Ni–YSZ), electrolyte (YSZ), and cathode (LSM–YSZ), B) LCO–NMC cathode for a lithium-ion battery prepared by FIB, and C) LCO–NMC cathode for a lithium-ion battery, prepared by razor blade. D) Histothan in Figure 4 B (FIB and liftgrams of TXM reconstruction from sample prepared by FIB and razor blade, E) 3D segmented view from the Ni out sample), even though both phase of the anode of the SOFC [rectangle in (A)], and F) detailed view of the cracks of a LCO particle [rectangle samples consist of the same ma- in (B)] The gray arrows indicate the location of the cracks. [gray scale bar for (A–C) and (F).]  2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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as TPBs in the SOFC case).[18] These 3D microstructural parameters in electrodes are related to the performance or stability of functional energy conversion/ storage devices.[4, 6] More specifically, in the case of SOFC, the effective charge-transfer resistance of the electrodes can be estimated from a known volume fraction, tortuosity of the ionic conductive phase, and the TPB density, provided the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte and the resistivity associated with the TPB are known. This calculation is based on an analytical model developed by Tanner et al.[19] Figure 4 E shows an isolated Ni phase. Similar segmentation processes were also carried out on the YSZ and pore phases for the calculation described above. De- Figure 5. 3D morphological analysis of the Sn battery electrode. A) 3D view of cropped volume of interest anatailed discussions can be found lyzed, B) feature size distribution of the Sn particles, with peak size of 700 nm and average size of 1201 nm, C) Sn particles with surface colored by the corresponding Gaussian curvature value, and D) a close view of the yellow in our recent work.[7, 15] rectangle region of (C). In the battery electrodes, cracks nucleated and propagat3. Conclusions ed during materials processing and electrochemical cycling influence the performance of the battery, as they may facilitate the diffusion caused by the higher surface area and smaller We developed a simple, efficient, and highly reproducible size of the electrode particles, but may also harm the longsample preparation method for X-ray nanotomography. The term stability of the electrode. The latter is attributed to the method intelligently improved the two-step FIB milling and cycling-induced stress and mechanical fractures at the cracks, lift-out procedure, which has been widely used until now for which are high-stress concentration locations.[5] In Figure 4 B electron microscopy study. As a result, large-sized samples can be handled and milling, undercutting, and lift-out procedures the cracks can be identified in the LCO–NMC sample. A decan be carried out with more precise monitoring and direct tailed view of one selected particle is shown in Figure 4 F, with observation during the sample preparation. SOFC and lithiumthe fine crack size on the order of 80 nm. Here not only the ion battery electrodes were prepared by using the method cracks on the surface can be studied but, more importantly, presented in this paper and high-quality X-ray nanotomograthe cracks that are buried within the particles can be observed phy data were obtained. The noise level of the images was sigin 3D and in their entirety, which is a unique advantage comnificantly reduced compared to the sample prepared by using pared with surface-based techniques such as SEM. different methods. As a result, accurate 3D morphological analAlthough the origins of the cracks found in the LCO–NMC ysis can be performed on the reconstructed volume to extract sample is unclear, the crack nucleation and mechanical fracture parameters that are relevant to the properties and performanduring cycling can be related to the size[20] and the high meces of the materials. Although energy storage materials were chanical stress points, such as the points with high curvademonstrated in this paper, the method can be widely applied tures.[21] Both the 3D size distribution and the surface curvato any microstructural study of materials by using X-ray nanotures of the active electrode particles can be quantified. Figtomography. ure 5 A shows a cropped volume of interest from the Sn electrode sample, in which the 3D morphological analysis of the size and curvature were performed quantitatively. The feature size distribution of the Sn particles is shown in Figure 5 B, Acknowledgements whereas the particles surface colored with corresponding Gaussian curvatures (geometric mean of the two principal curWe thank Prof. Barnett for providing the SOFC and LCO–NMC vatures) and its zoom-in view are shown in Figure 5 C and Figsamples and Dr. Jiajun Wang for providing the Sn-based battery ure 5 D, respectively. sample. This research carried out in part at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic  2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886. Use of the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under the same Contract No. Keywords: energy conversion · micromanipulation nanotechnology · nanotomography · sample preparation

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[1] J. Wang, Y.-c. K. Chen, Q. Yuan, A. Tkachuk, C. Erdonmez, B. Hornberger, M. Feser, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2012, 100, 143107 – 143101 – 143104. [2] W. M. Harris, J. J. Lombardo, M. B. DeGostin, G. J. Nelson, H. Luebbe, J. A. Schuler, J. Van Herle, J. C. Andrews, Y. J. Liu, P. Pianetta, Y. C. K. Chen, J. Wang, W. K. S. Chiu, Solid State Ionics 2013, 237, 16 – 21. [3] Z. Liu, J. S. Cronin, Y. C. K. Chen-Wiegart, J. R. Wilson, K. J. Yakal-Kremski, J. Wang, K. T. Faber, S. A. Barnett, J. Power Sources 2013, 227, 267 – 274. [4] J. R. Wilson, J. S. Cronin, S. A. Barnett, S. J. Harris, J. Power Sources 2011, 196, 3443 – 3447. [5] Y. C. K. Chen-Wiegart, P. Shearing, Q. X. Yuan, A. Tkachuk, J. Wang, Electrochem. Commun. 2012, 21, 58 – 61. [6] J. R. Wilson, W. Kobsiriphat, R. Mendoza, H. Y. Chen, J. M. Hiller, D. J. Miller, K. Thornton, P. W. Voorhees, S. B. Adler, S. A. Barnett, Nat. Mater. 2006, 5, 541 – 544. [7] J. S. Cronin, Y. C. K. Chen-Wiegart, J. Wang, S. A. Barnett, J. Power Sources 2013, 233, 174 – 179. [8] Y. C. K. Chen-Wiegart, W. M. Harris, J. J. Lombardo, W. K. S. Chiu, J. Wang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2012, 101, 253901.

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[9] Y. J. Liu, F. Meirer, J. Y. Wang, G. Requena, P. Williams, J. Nelson, A. Mehta, J. C. Andrews, P. Pianetta, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2012, 404, 1297 – 1301. [10] Y. C. K. Chen-Wiegart, Z. Liu, K. T. Faber, S. A. Barnett, J. Wang, Electrochem. Commun. 2013, 28, 127 – 130. [11] R. M. Langford, M. Rogers, Micron. 2008, 39, 1325 – 1330. [12] F. A. Stevie, R. B. Irwin, T. L. Shofner, S. R. Brown, J. L. Drown, L. A. Giannuzzi in Plan view TEM sample preparation using the focused ion beam lift-out technique, Vol. 449 (Eds.: D. G. Seiler, A. C. Diebold, W. M. Bullis, T. J. Shaffner, R. McDonald, E. J. Walters), Amer Inst Physics, Melville, 1998, pp. 868 – 872. [13] P. R. Shearing, J. Golbert, R. J. Chater, N. P. Brandon, Chem. Eng. Sci. 2009, 64, 3928 – 3933. [14] Jeffrey J. Lombardo, Roger A. Ristau, William M. Harrisa, W. K. S. Chiu, J. Synchrotron Radiat. 2012, 19, 789 – 796. [15] Y. C. K. Chen-Wiegart, J. S. Cronin, Q. X. Yuan, K. J. Yakal-Kremski, S. A. Barnett, J. Wang, J. Power Sources 2012, 218, 348 – 351. [16] B. Mnch, L. Holzer, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 2008, 91, 4059 – 4067. [17] Y.-c. K. Chen-Wiegart, R. DeMike, C. Erdonmez, K. Thornton, S. A. Barnett, J. Wang, J. Power Sources 2014, 249, 349 – 356. [18] J. R. Wilson, J. S. Cronin, S. A. Barnett, Scripta Mater. 2011, 65, 67 – 72. [19] C. W. Tanner, K. Z. Fung, A. V. Virkar, J. Electrochem. Soc. 1997, 144, 21 – 30. [20] X. H. Liu, L. Zhong, S. Huang, S. X. Mao, T. Zhu, J. Y. Huang, ACS Nano 2012, 6, 1522 – 1531. [21] C. Lim, B. Yan, L. L. Yin, L. K. Zhu, Electrochim. Acta 2012, 75, 279 – 287. Received: January 10, 2014 Published online on March 25, 2014

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Sample Preparation of Energy Materials for Xray ...

Mar 25, 2014 - phy sample preparation using FIB milling and lift-out. ... out. The resulting high-quality 3D volume data can be used to extract critical 3D morphological parameters such as volume fractions, feature size distribution, surface ..... [12] F. A. Stevie, R. B. Irwin, T. L. Shofner, S. R. Brown, J. L. Drown, L. A. Gian-.

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