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 ß-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 Li3PS4-xOx (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 ß-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.
