APS x-rays were crucial for designing the Volt’s improved battery cathode by enabling scientists to see—for the first time at the atomic level—the molecular structure of battery material.
Intense x-rays from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s (DOE-SC's) Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory were used to help Argonne design the technology used in the battery cell that powers the General Motors Company’s Chevrolet Volt. This plug-in hybrid electric vehicle has a range of 53 pure electric miles and up to 420 miles with a full charge and a full tank of gas.