SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) is very useful for 2D mapping with submicrometer lateral resolution.

Thanks, Daniel. I work on Lithium Ion Batteries and mapping lithium is important , but it is quite interesting to note that "Be" is detectable now by EDS. Thanks for that information.

Jakub, I guess SIMS does't give enough resolution that I want for "Li-mapping". But I agree nano-SIMS is such a wonderful technique for several other materials, particularly now we can get sub-micron resolution.

Dear Sir,

just try to get access to a OMICRON NanoESCA, preferably mounted at a synchrotron beamline. Then, you will get chemical information via X-ray photoelecron spectroscopy (XPS) with lateral resolution in the range of 100-200 nm. In case you can identify Li in your batteries via changes in workfunction, the PEEM mode of the NanoESCA provides spatial resolution in 2D mapping in the range of 50 nm.

Unfortunately, these devices are not widly used and synchrotron radiation seems mandatory since in XPS the problem for Li is the same as in case of EDS/EDX, namely very low cross sections.

For further information, see

http://www.omicron.de/en/products/nanoesca-/instrument-concept

Sincerely,

FM

Frank, thanks for the information seems to be great, even in Lab we can get 500 nm resolution!