Waters Corporation announced a new accessory for its TA Instruments Discovery Hybrid Rheometers (HR) designed to enable simultaneous electrical impedance and rheological measurements, a critical capability for scientists working on new battery formulations.
Image Credit: TA Instruments
"Battery innovators that are focused on optimizing performance and scale-up require sensitive tools to characterize electrode slurry composition and ensure quality," said Jianqing Bennett, Senior Vice President of the TA Instruments™ Division at Waters Corporation. "With the Rheo-IS accessory, we now offer uncompromised rheometric sensitivity with a full range of impedance measurements for slurry formulation analysis in one versatile, easy-to-use platform – the Discovery Hybrid Rheometer."
When used with Discovery HR, the Rheo-IS accessory enables battery scientists to evaluate the conductive structure within electrode slurries using impedance spectroscopy measurements under real-world and process-relevant conditions. This includes characterizing changes in particle distribution that mimic the effects of mixing, storage, and coating processes. This can accelerate electrode material development and lead to more efficient battery production.
"TA Instruments Rheo-IS accessory provides our research program with the ability to gain a new scientific understanding of electrically and ionically conductive soft materials," said Jeff Richards, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University. "The integrated workflow for automating complex rheological and electrical protocols and the tight hardware and software integration makes measurements routine and results in higher throughput and improved data quality."
Current rheology solutions rely on performance-limiting mechanical contacts to deliver impedance measurements, which compromise sensitivity and restrict accessible data and insights. The Rheo-IS accessory avoids these limitations with its unique patent-pending technology – a design that enables the Discovery HR's full range of torque sensitivity for precision rheological measurements, coupled with impedance measurements up to 8 MHz frequency.
The Rheo-IS accessory offers an easy-to-use experience, with installation completed in less than 5 minutes and complete integration of measurement controls and data analysis in TA Instruments TRIOS™ software. This addition expands the Discovery HR's versatility for battery materials, offering rheological measurements of slurry flow behavior, powder rheology to support dry electrode coatings, and now simultaneous electrical impedance measurements of slurries, all readily available on a single platform. The Rheo-IS accessory is now orderable worldwide from Waters TA Instruments.