10th Anniversary of Batteries: Advanced Characterization Techniques

Dear Colleagues,

Advanced batteries have become indispensable to modern technologies, enabling a wide range of applications—from portable electronics and electric vehicles to large-scale renewable energy storage systems. As the demand for higher energy density, longer lifespan, faster charging, and enhanced safety increases, so too does the need to better understand the complex physicochemical processes occurring inside batteries during operation. Traditional ex situ approaches often fall short of capturing dynamic interfacial phenomena, localized reactions, and degradation mechanisms. To address this challenge, in situ and operando characterization techniques are rapidly emerging as essential tools for battery research, offering real-time insight into electrochemical reactions, structural evolution, and interface behavior across a broad range of battery chemistries. In situ and operando techniques have emerged as powerful tools to probe battery behavior under realistic conditions, offering real-time insights into reaction kinetics, interfacial processes, and structural evolution across a variety of chemistries. These methods are not only expanding our fundamental understanding of electrochemical systems but also driving the design of more robust and efficient battery technologies.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the latest developments in in situ and operando characterization methods applied to battery research. It welcomes original research and reviews covering new methodologies, instrumentation, and applications that reveal fundamental mechanisms or guide practical performance improvements.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to

• In situ and operando spectroscopy (e.g., Raman, FTIR, XAS, XPS) for battery analysis;
• In situ imaging and microscopy techniques (e.g., TEM, SEM, AFM, fluorescence imaging);
• In situ mass and volume change monitoring (e.g., EQCM, dilatometry, DEMS);
• Interface and interphase evolution during cycling;
• Local pH, ion distribution, and reaction environment mapping;
• Real-time diagnostics of electrode/electrolyte reactions;
• Multi-scale or multi-modal characterization strategies;
• Application of in situ methods to lithium, sodium, zinc, solid-state, and emerging battery chemistries;
• Integration of in situ data with modelling or machine learning approaches;
• Development of new cell designs and tools enabling in situ studies. 

We look forward to your contributions to this Special Issue celebrating a decade of progress in Batteries and advancing the field through the lens of cutting-edge characterization.

Dr. Kai Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Batteries is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• in situ characterization
• operando techniques
• battery interfaces
• electrochemical reactions
• real-time diagnostics