Enhanced ionic conductivity in LAGP/LATP composite electrolyte

Nasicon materials(sodium superionic conductors) such as Li_(1.5)Al_(0.5)Ge_(1.5)(PO_4)_3(LAGP) and Li_(1.4)Al_(0.4)Ti_(1.6)(PO_4)_3(LATP) have been considered as important solid electrolytes due to their high ionic conductivity and chemical stability.Compared to LAGP, LATP has higher bulk conductivity around 10~(-3) S/cm at room temperature; however, the apparent grain boundary conductivity is almost two orders of magnitude lower than the bulk, while LAGP has similar bulk and grain boundary conductivity around the order of 10~(-4) S/cm. To make full use of the advantages of the two electrolytes, pure phase Li_(1.5)Al_(0.5)Ge_(1.5)(PO_4)_3 and Li_(1.4)Al_(0.4)Ti_(1.6)(PO_4)_3 were synthesized through solid state reaction, a series of composite electrolytes consisting of LAGP and LATP with different weight ratios were designed. XRD and variable temperature AC impedance spectra were carried out to clarify the crystal structure and the ion transport properties of the composite electrolytes. The results indicate that the composite electrolyte with the LATP/LAGP weight ratio of 80:20 achieved the highest bulk conductivity which shall be due to the formation of solid solution phase Li1.42 Al0.42 Ge0.3 Ti1.28(PO4)3, while the highest grain boundary conductivity appeared at the LATP/LAGP weight ratio of 20:80 which may be due to the excellent interfacial phase between Li_(1+x)Al_xGe_yTi_(2-x-y)(PO_4)_3/LATP. All the composite electrolytes demonstrated higher total conductivity than the pure LAGP and LATP, which highlights the importance of heterogeneous interface on regulating the ion transport properties.     

A low cost composite quasi-solid electrolyte of LATP,TEGDME,and LiTFSI for rechargeable lithium batteries

The composite quasi solid state electrolytes(CQSE) is firstly synthesized with quasi solid state electrolytes(QSE) and lithium-ion-conducting material Li_(1.4)Al_(0.4)Ti_(1.6)(PO_4)_3(LATP), and the QSE consists of [LiG4][TFSI] with fumed silica nanoparticles. Compared with LATP, CQSE greatly improves the interface conductance of solid electrolytes. In addition,it has lower liquid volume relative to QSE. Although the liquid volume fraction of CQSE is droped to 60%, its conductivity can also reach 1.39 × 10~(-4)S/cm at 20℃. Linear sweep voltammetry(LSV) is conducted on each composite electrolyte.The results show the possibility that CQSE has superior electrochemical stability up to 5.0 V versus Li/Li+. TG curves also show that composite electrolytes have higher thermal stability. In addition, the performance of Li/QSE/Li Mn_2O_4 and Li/CQSE/Li Mn_2O_4 batteries is evaluated and shows good electrochemical characteristics at 60℃.     

Probing component contributions and internal polarization in silicon-graphite composite anode for lithium-ion batteries with an electrochemical-mechanical model

Silicon-graphite (Si-Gr) composite anodes are attractive alternatives to replace Gr anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their relatively high capacity and mild volume change. However, it is difficult to understand electrochemical interactions of Si and Gr in Si-Gr composite anodes and internal polarization of LIBs with regular experiment methods. Herein, we establish an electrochemical-mechanical coupled model to study the effect of rate and Si content on the electrochemical and stress behavior in a Si-Gr composite anode. The results show that the composites of Si and Gr not only improve the lithiation kinetics of Gr but also alleviate the voltage hysteresis of Si and decrease the risk of lithium plating in the negative electrode. What's more, the Si content is a tradeoff between electrode capacity and electrode volume variation. Further, various internal polarization contributions of cells using Si-Gr composite anodes are quantified by the voltage decomposition method. The results indicate that the electrochemical polarization of electrode materials and the electrolyte ohmic over-potential are dominant factors in the rate performance of cells, which provides theoretical guidance for improving the rate performance of LIBs using Si-Gr composite anodes.