Invention Reference Number
Inorganic fillers play an important role in improving the ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, and mechanical strength of solid composite electrolytes (SCEs) for next generation Li-ion batteries. Among inorganic fillers, perovskite–type lithium lanthanum titanate (LLTO) stands out for its high bulk Li ionic conductivity on the order of 10−3 S/cm at room temperature. The ideal LLTO filler should feature a single crystal structure to minimize grain boundary, small particle size to enlarge filler/polymer interface, 1D morphology to provide fast interface channels, and cubic phase to ensure fast bulk Li-ion diffusion in filler. However, the synthesis of such a single crystal 1D LLTO nanomaterials with cubic phase is challenging. Herein, ORNL has developed a flux strategy to synthesize single-crystal LLTO. SCEs using LMTO described herein as a filler material exhibited more than twice the conductivities of polymer electrolytes, and those SCEs using commercial LLTO or TiO2 as filler materials. Moreover, LMTO-based SCEs exhibited much lower overpotentials and better cycling stability than the polymer electrolyte counterpart in both Li symmetric cells and full cells.
Contact
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