Deconvoluting anode and cathode potentials in a commercial cell using micro-reference electrode

Only the overall voltage (difference between cathode and anode voltage) is measured from the commercial rechargeable cells. Three terminal cells which can allow individual voltage measurements (anode and cathode) are rarely available commercially.  

This project relates to developing a minimally invasive method to put a micro reference electrode in a commercially available cylindrical cell to enable measurement of anode and cathode voltages at rest. Capability to reproducibly be able to do the same from a commercial cell will be critical for:

1. Characterization of the utilization window of the anode and cathode materials (degree of lithiation at different state of charge) to establish the baseline in the fresh cell.
2. Characterization of an aged cell and comparison with fresh cell will provide critical insight: how the batteries are fading?
3. This characterization will allow development of experimentally validated battery models where individual electrodes could be characterized.
4. Allow for better fast charging algorithms development.