Visualizing the lithiation of a nanosized iron-oxide material in real time

From cell phones to laptops and tablets, lithium-ion batteries power most of today's portable electronics. Understanding how these batteries store and release energy as they charge and discharge is critical to improving their performance and increasing their longevity, especially for high-power applications such as electric vehicles and smart power grids. Visualizing the atomic-scale reaction pathways involved in battery discharge, however, has been difficult because of the high sensitivity requ...