The use of contrast enhancement techniques in X-ray imaging of lithium-ion battery electrodes

•Micro- and nano-scale XRM were used to characterize a Li-ion graphite electrode.•Enhanced X-ray image contrast was obtained by signal blending and optimization.•Imaging resolution requirement varied with the investigated electrode parameter.

Understanding the microstructural morphology of Li-ion battery electrodes is crucial to improving the electrochemical performance of current Li-ion battery systems and in developing next-generation power systems. The use of 3D X-ray imaging techniques, which are continuously evolving, provides a non-invasive platform to study the relationship between electrode microstructure and performance at various time and length scales. In addition to characterizing a weakly (X-ray) absorbing graphite electrode at multiple length scales, we implement an approach for obtaining improved nano-scale image contrast on a laboratory X-ray microscope by combining information obtained from both absorption-contrast and Zernike phase-contrast X-ray images.