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Abstract In situ tensile testing using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful technique to probe structure‐property relationships of materials at the atomic scale. In this work, a facile tensile testing platform for in situ characterization of materials inside a transmission electron microscope is demonstrated. The platform consists of: 1) a commercially available, flexible, electron‐transparent substrate (e.g., TEM grid) integrated with a conventional tensile testing holder, and 2) a finite element simulation providing quantification of specimen‐applied strain. The flexible substrate (carbon support film of the TEM grid) mitigates strain concentrations usually found in free‐standing films and enables in situ straining experiments to be performed on materials that cannot undergo localized thinning or focused ion beam lift‐out. The finite element simulation enables direct correlation of holder displacement with sample strain, providing upper and lower bounds of expected strain across the substrate. The tensile testing platform is validated for three disparate material systems: sputtered gold‐palladium, few‐layer transferred tungsten disulfide, and electrodeposited lithium, by measuring lattice strain from experimentally recorded electron diffraction data. The results show good agreement between experiment and simulation, providing confidence in the ability to transfer strain from holder to sample and relate TEM crystal structural observations with material mechanical properties. 

The mechanical response of Al-substituted LLZO to compressive forces was measured using instrumented indentation testing. Large correlated variations in compressive strength are observed across microscale regions of the solid electrolyte. 

This work explores a novel approach for improving the sodium-ion battery performance of coal char using flash pyrolysis and an ether-based electrolyte. Coal char is an ultra-low cost hard carbon with promising application as an anode material in sodium-ion batteries. During flash pyrolysis, char is heated at 1000 °C/s in a drop-tube furnace to create a highly-irregular structure. The larger d-spacing and smaller closed micropore diameter of flash-pyrolyzed char increases anode capacity compared to traditional slow-pyrolyzed char electrodes. The sodium-ion battery anode performance of flash-pyrolyzed char is further improved using an ether-based electrolyte in place of the traditional ester-based electrolyte. Performance improvements include greater initial Coulombic efficiency (58% in ester- vs. 64% in ether-based electrolyte) and improved specific capacity in an ether-based electrolyte. Overall, the combination of flash pyrolysis and ether-based electrolyte increases the sodium-ion battery discharge capacity of coal char by over 50%, from 72.5 mAh g−1 (slow-pyrolyzed char in ester-based electrolyte) to 109.4 mAh g−1 (flash-pyrolyzed char in ether-based electrolyte) (50 mA g−1 discharge rate). The results highlight improvements that can be realized through flash pyrolysis of coal char for battery applications and the numerous processing advantages of flash vs. slow pyrolysis. 

Electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) provide high power density and long cycle life energy storage. This work examines the use of inexpensive, raw coal char as an electrode material for supercapacitors. The effect of electrolyte composition on the performance of coal char supercapacitors is explored for the first time to determine the relative contributions of double-layer capacitance vs. faradaic reactions on total charge storage. Six electrolytes are examined with coal char electrodes, including: four aqueous electrolytes (0.5 M H 2 SO 4 , 6 M KOH, 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 , 4 M LiNO 3 ); a water-in-salt electrolyte using 13 m NaClO 4 ; and an ionic liquid electrolyte (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile). Voltage range, specific capacitance, electrochemical impedance, and charge–discharge characteristics of the coal char in the different electrolytes are characterized. The results indicate that neutral aqueous, water-in-salt, and ionic liquid electrolytes present a charging/discharging process approaching ideal EDLC behavior. The study provides insight into the optimal electrolyte composition for use with coal char electrodes and contributes to the current understanding of electrode-electrolyte interactions in carbon supercapacitors.