Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) has announced the launch of the Waters TA Instruments Coin Cell Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), a groundbreaking instrument designed to transform battery safety testing. Purpose-built for battery scientists, the Coin Cell DSC enables direct testing of fully assembled coin cells, eliminating time-intensive preparation steps while delivering faster, more descriptive safety and performance insights.
Integrated Multidimensional Analysis
The Coin Cell DSC is the only commercially available DSC that provides multidimensional data capture, allowing researchers to collect whole-cell thermal data while simultaneously measuring evolved gas and electrochemical performance. By incorporating voltage monitoring and charge/discharge capability, researchers can directly correlate thermal and electrochemical behavior, enabling earlier insights into thermal runaway and battery failure. The system can also be coupled with MS, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), or Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) for direct analysis of off-gas composition.
Significant Time Savings
The instrument introduces a unique capsule design that eliminates the highly time-consuming need for cell teardown, reducing average sample preparation time by more than 90%. This approach preserves sample integrity while significantly accelerating data generation.
Industry-Leading Temperature Range
The new system redefines thermal analysis by integrating advanced temperature performance, efficient workflows, and multidimensional data capture into a single platform. With an industry-leading temperature range from –80 °C to 600 °C, the Coin Cell DSC enables comprehensive analysis of low- and high-temperature behavior, expanding future applications in development and quality assurance/quality control.
Expert Perspectives
“The Coin Cell DSC represents a significant advancement in battery thermal analysis,” said Yu Cheng, Vice President of Research and Development and Product Solutions, Materials Sciences, Waters Corporation. “Simultaneously capturing thermal, evolved gas, and electrochemical data is not only faster, but also correlates data from the same sample for more exacting insights earlier in development. With its broad temperature range and streamlined workflows, the system is designed to reduce experimental complexity while outperforming current approaches.”
“The battery industry has long needed a solution that bridges the gap between materials thermal analysis and full-cell DSC testing,” said Shirley Meng, Professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, and Director of the Energy Storage Research Alliance. “This technology enables the evaluation of full-cell thermal stability by incorporating gas analysis and electrochemical data—capabilities that are essential for advancing early-stage battery safety research.”
The Coin Cell DSC is now available from Waters Corporation. For more information, visit the Waters website.
