Credit: Image courtesy of Smith et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 23568-23575 (2014). Published by the PCCP Owner Societies.
Lithium ions (not explicitly shown) are surrounded by an average of 4.5 molecules of propylene carbonate, a model for the liquid electrolyte used in batteries. Scientists created this model using fundamental electronic structure calculations to interpret experimentally measured x-ray absorption spectra.