Battery Imaging Library

BIL is the first multi-modal multi-length scale battery imaging database.

It currently includes the following type of data:

• Synchrotron 3D S3DXRD along with raw 2D diffraction patterns for one 2D cross section
• 2D EBSD data along with raw Kikuchi diffraction pattern and corresponding 2D FIB SEM/EDX data
• 3D FIB SEM with corresponding EDX data
• Synchrotron X-ray nano-CT
• Synchrotron X-ray micro-CT including two dynamic 4D experiments
• Synchrotron XRD-CT including datasets at different states of charge of the same battery
• Synchrotron 3D XANES-CT
• Neutron-CT
• Laboratory X-ray micro-ct
• Laboratory TEM
• Laboratory Atom Probe Tomography (APT)

📘 Official website: https://www.batteryimaginglibrary.com

The laboratory X-ray micro-ct cover the most widely used battery chemistries as shown in the following figure, specifically primary alkaline and LiFeS2 as well as rechargable NiMH and Li-ion. The sample cover a wide range of battery sizes, from the the world's smallest cylindrical Li-ion battery (Panasonic pintype) to a large 4680 Li-ion battery.

Importantly, BIL contains raw data for all techniques, including raw radiographs / sinograms, X-ray and electron diffraction patterns as illustrated in the following figure.

BIL contains data also from dynamic X-ray micro-ct with primary batteries (see gifs below) as well as XRD-CT data from dynamic experiments with Li-ion batteries [1, 2].

Included Tutorials

The repository includes several example notebooks to help users learn the API and workflows:

Notebook Filename	Topic
Neutron-CT	Reconstructing neutron-ct data from raw radiographs
XRD-CT	Reconstructing XRD-CT data from integrated diffraction patterns
Synchrotron X-ray CT	Reconstructing parallel beam X-ray CT data
Laboratory X-ray CT	Reconstructing cone beam X-ray CT data

Each notebook is designed to be standalone and executable, with detailed inline comments and example outputs.

Installation Instructions

The BIL notebooks depend on two main libraries: nDTomo [3] and CIL [4,5]. CIL is used for the reconstruction of the laboratory cone beam X-ray CT data and nDTomo is used for the data handling of the XRD-CT, neutron-CT and parallel-beam X-ray CT.

The easiest way to set up the complete computational environment with all required dependencies is using the provided environment.yml file:

conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate bil

Alternatively, you can install the packages manually by following these steps:

1. Install CIL with TIGRE and astra-toolbox

Create a new environment and first install astra-toolbox:

conda create --name bil python=3.11
conda activate bil
conda install -c astra-toolbox -c nvidia -c conda-forge -c https://software.repos.intel.com/python/conda -c ccpi astra-toolbox cil tigre

2. Install nDTomo

This will install the latest stable release of nDTomo:

pip install nDTomo

3. Install extra packagaes

pip install dask-image xrmreader dxchange

Citation

If you use parts of the code, please cite the work using the following:

"Battery Imaging Library: Multi-length scale and multi-modal synchrotron and laboratory battery imaging data for all", R. Docherty, S. Riley, J. D. Morley, E. Papoutsellis, A. D. Bobitan, J. Donoghue, K. Rankin, F. Alvarez Borges, L. E. Salinas Farran, S. Michalik, A. Liptak, G. Burca, P.-O. Autran, J. Wright, W. Kockelmann, O. Gutowski, A. C. Dippel, M. von Zimmerman, D. Matras, B. Winiarski, J. Mangum, M. Popeil, D. P. Finegan, J. Gott, D. Proprentner, G. West, L. F. J. Piper, H. Dong, M. P. Jones, F. Iacoviello, A. V. Llewellyn, R. Jervis, Y. Kimura, K. Amezawa, O. Sekizawa, M. G. Ardakani, A. Omirkhan, M. P. Ryan, J. O. Douglas, S. Wang, F. Giuliani, N. Mulcahy, S. Conroy, C. George, A. M. Beale, S. D. M. Jacques, S. J. Cooper, A. Vamvakeros, RSC Digital Discovery, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1039/d6dd00321d

References

[1] "Cycling Rate-Induced Spatially-Resolved Heterogeneities in Commercial Cylindrical Li-Ion Batteries", A. Vamvakeros, D. Matras, T.E. Ashton, A.A. Coelho, H. Dong, D. Bauer, Y. Odarchenko, S.W.T. Price, K.T. Butler, O. Gutowski, A.-C. Dippel, M. von Zimmerman, J.A. Darr, S.D.M. Jacques, A.M. Beale, Small Methods, 2100512, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202100512

[2] "Emerging chemical heterogeneities in a commercial 18650 NCA Li-ion battery during early cycling revealed by synchrotron X-ray diffraction tomography", D. Matras, T.E. Ashton, H. Dong, M. Mirolo, I. Martens, J. Drnec, J.A. Darr, P.D. Quinn, S.D.M. Jacques, A.M. Beale, A. Vamvakeros, Journal of Power Sources 539, 231589, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.231589

[3] "nDTomo: A Modular Python Toolkit for X-ray Chemical Imaging and Tomography", A. Vamvakeros, E. Papoutsellis, H. Dong, R. Docherty, A.M. Beale, S.J. Cooper, S.D.M. Jacques, Digital Discovery, 4, 2579-2592, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1039/D5DD00252D

[4] "Core Imaging Library-Part I", J.S. Jørgensen, E. Ametova, G. Burca, G. Fardell, E. Papoutsellis, E. Pasca, K. Thielemans, M. Turner, R. Warr, W.R.B. Lionheart, P.J. Withers, Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 1-24, 379, 2204, 2021.

[5] "Core Imaging Library-Part II", E. Papoutsellis, E. Ametova, C. Delplancke, G. Fardell, J. S. Jørgensen, E. Pasca, M. Turner, R. Warr, W.R.B. Lionheart, P.J. Withers, Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 1-30, 2204, 379, 2021.