Some imperfections pay big dividends. A Cornell-led collaboration used X-ray nanoimaging to gain an unprecedented view into solid-state electrolytes, revealing previously undetected crystal defects and dislocations that may now be leveraged to create superior energy storage materials. The group’s paper, “X-ray Nanoimaging of Crystal Defects in Single Grains of Solid-State Electrolyte Li7-3xAlxLa3Zr2O12,” published April 29 in Nano Letters, a publication of the American Chemical Society. The paper’s lead author is doctoral student Yifei Sun. American Chemical Society/Provided The Singer Group is leveraging defects and dislocations in solid-state electrolytes to create superior energy storage materials.