Science Daily September 9, 2022 Using a proton-conducting oxide as an electrolyte film in electrochemical devices introduces an interface, which thermally and chemically generates mechanical strain. To reduce the strain researchers in Japan focused on BZY20, which is a combination of yttrium, barium, zirconium, and oxygen atoms. They found that the atoms on the edges of this cube are 2% closer at the interface between the oxide and the surface than in layers far away from the surface. This compressive strain reduces the proton conductivity to nearly 1/100,000 of what it is in bulk samples. As the layers build up, […]
Tag Archives: Solid electrolytes
Researchers identify alternative to lithium-based battery technology
Science Daily May 31, 2022 To make all-solid-state sodium batteries (ASSSBs) commercially viable a team of researchers in the US (University of Houston, Iowa State University, Purdue University, Rice University, Northern Illinois University, UC Irvine) has developed a family of oxysulfide glass solid electrolytes (SEs) that not only exhibit the highest critical current density among all Na-ion conducting sulfide-based SEs, but also enable high-performance ambient-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries. By forming bridging oxygen units, the solid electrolytes undergo pressure-induced sintering at room temperature, resulting in a fully homogeneous glass structure with robust mechanical properties. The self-passivating solid electrolyte interphase at the Na|SE […]
Molecular paddlewheels propel sodium ions through next-generation batteries
Science Daily January 11, 2022 Identifying and controlling the pertinent phonon modes coupled most strongly with ionic conductivity, and assessing the role of anharmonicity, could pave the way for discovering and designing new solid electrolyted (SEs) via phonon engineering. A team of researchers in the US (Duke University, University of Louisville, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory) investigated phonons in sodium thiophosphate (Na3PS4) and their coupling to fast Na diffusion and identified that anharmonic soft modes at the Brillouin zone boundary of the anharmonically stabilized cubic phase constitute key phonon modes that control the Na diffusion process in Na3PS4. […]
Scientists identify solid electrolyte materials that boost lithium-ion battery performance
TechXplore September 22, 2020 To find reliable solid electrolytes a team of researchers in the US (Stanford University, industry) trained a computer algorithm to screen more than 12,000 lithium-containing compounds in a materials database. Within minutes the algorithm identified approximately 20 promising materials, including four little-known compounds made of lithium, boron and sulfur. They studied four compounds using density functional theory, which simulates how the materials would behave at the atomic level. Their findings include the following: Lithium-boron-sulfur electrolytes could be about twice as stable as the leading solid electrolytes; When mixed together, the four lithium-boron-sulfur compounds would continue functioning […]