Abstract
Electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) is a scanning probe microscopy (SPM) method in which
the local electrodiffusion is probed via application of AC voltage to the SPM tip and registration of
resulting electrochemical strain. Here, we implemented ESM to measure local strain in bulk
LiMn2O4 cathodes of a commercial Li-battery in different states of charge to investigate distribution
of Li-ion mobility and concentration. Ramped AC ESM imaging and voltage spectroscopy
were used to find the most reliable regime of measurements allowing separating and diminishing
different contributions to ESM. This is not a trivial task due to complex geometry of the sample
and various obstacles resulting in less predictable contributions of different origins into ESM
response: electrostatic tip–surface interactions, charge injection, electrostriction, and flexoelectricity.
Understanding and control of these contributions is an important step towards quantitative
interpretation of ESM data.
