Oxygen-substituted, Solid-state, Lithium-ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries have quickly become an integral part of everyday life with their use in laptops, smartphones, electric vehicles, etc. However, a major safety concern of commercial Lithium Ion Batteries stems from the use of flammable organic electrolytes. To overcome this, solid electrolytes have been extensively studied, especially Li₃PS₄ because of its stability against lithium and low cost. Li₃PS₄ does have the draw back of having a staggering decrease in ionic conductivity due to a lack of stability in its highly conductive β-phase; stabilizing this phase promises to provide access to a range of next-generation batteries that are stable and highly efficient.

Dr. Yan-yan Hu and her team at FSU have developed a range of oxygen-substituted materials with the structure Li₃PS_4-xO_x (0 < x < 1) that are more stable and provides up to a seven-fold increase in ionic conductivity and a lower activation energy compared to experimental β-Li₃PS₄. Additionally, they have developed a method to synthesize the material through high-energy ball-milling.

The result is a high-performance battery with fast Li-ion transport and decreased activation energy. Coupled with a facile synthetic method, the enhanced electrochemical performance of this material makes it a great candidate for next generation solid-sate batteries.