Project R-6406

Chemical synthesis of inorganic composite solid electrolytes with enhanced ionic conductivity by interfacial Li+ ion diffusion. (Research)

The topic of the proposal at hand is the challenging chemical synthesis and understanding of solid state Li+ electrolytes with a high ionic conductivity, enabling the creation of full solid state electrochemical devices such as lithium ion batteries (LIB). Instead of traditional single phase Li+ conductors, here the focus is on inorganic composites. Preliminary literature demonstrates higher conductivity in such composite conductors than in certain pure materials. However, there is a lack in systematic investigations, and a full fundamental understanding of how the improvement in the conductivity comes about is missing. The project will contribute to filling this knowledge gap by developing new synthesis routes for these advanced composites, studying the solid state diffusion of Li+ therein, and deriving guidelines for the design of composites with optimal Li+ conductivity. The project at hand clearly goes beyond the mainstream research of single phase solid electrolytes, which by themselves already are a hot topic at the forefront of the field. In contrast to commercially available thin film microbatteries, which apply pure inorganic thin films as electrolytes, here focus is on mostly unexplored composite bulk electrolytes. Ultimately, solid state batteries containing these new composites could replace the current wet LIB as they promise improved safety, lifetime and lower cost, which are important factors in applications such as residential storage of renewable energy.

01 October 2015 - 30 September 2017