Defects and nanostrain gradients control phase transition mechanisms in single crystal high-voltage lithium spinel

SXDM imaging of LMNO was performed in a commercial, reflection geometry Li∣∣LMNO operando cell with carbonate-based electrolyte and a kapton window for X-ray transparency. Additional description and information on the preparation of the cell is presented in Methods section. A (111)-faceted LMNO single crystal (Fig. 1b) was located, and 2D maps of the (400) reflection were acquired with 80 nm resolution (Fig. 2).