A three-dimensional interconnected polymer/ceramic composite as a thin film solid electrolyte

Journal Article · Sat Dec 21 04:00:00 EST 2019 · Energy Storage Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2019.12.031· OSTI ID:1606797

Palmer, Max J. ^[1]; Kalnaus, Sergiy ^[1]; Dixit, Marm B. ^[2]; Westover, Andrew S. ^[1]; Hatzell, Kelsey B. ^[2]; Dudney, Nancy J. ^[1]; Chen, Xi Chelsea ^[1]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)

In this work we introduce an approach to fabricate a solid composite electrolyte film that is thin, ionically conductive, and mechanically robust with good potential for manufacturability, in the application of lithium metal batteries. First a doped-lithium aluminum titanium phosphate ceramic thin film with thickness of ~25 μm is formed by aqueous spray coating, a scalable process. The film is partially sintered to form a three-dimensionally interconnected structure with a dense backbone. It is then backfilled with a crosslinkable poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based polymer electrolyte. We report the composite has very high ceramic loading of 77 wt% (61 vol%) and an ionic conductivity of 3.5 × 10^-5 S/cm at 20 °C with an activation energy of 0.43 eV. The main ion transport pathway is through the ceramic network, predicted by modelling and verified by experiments. Owing to the interconnected structure of the ceramic, the composite electrolyte exhibits much improved mechanical strength.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725; AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1606797
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1597553
• Journal Information: Energy Storage Materials, Journal Name: Energy Storage Materials Journal Issue: C Vol. 26; ISSN 2405-8297
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
Composite electrolyte
Ionic conductivity
Lithium battery
Solid state electrolyte
Spray coating