In next-gen lithium-metal batteries, the liquid between the electrodes, called the electrolyte, corrodes the surfaces of electrodes, forming a thin, squishy layer called SEI. To make atomic-scale images of this layer in its native environment, researchers inserted a metal grid into a working coin cell battery (left). When they removed it, thin films of electrolyte clung to tiny circular holes within the grid, held in place by surface tension, and SEI layers had formed on tiny lithium wires in those same holes. Researchers blotted away excess liquid (center) before plunging the grid into liquid nitrogen (right) to freeze the films …
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