McClelland, I. orcid.org/0000-0001-9821-715X, El-Shinawi, H., Booth, S.G. orcid.org/0000-0001-7643-4196 et al. (6 more authors) (2022) The role of the reducible dopant in solid electrolyte–lithium metal interfaces. Chemistry of Materials, 34 (11). pp. 5054-5064. ISSN 0897-4756
Abstract
Garnet solid electrolytes, of the form Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO), remain an enticing prospect for solid-state batteries owing to their chemical and electrochemical stability in contact with metallic lithium. Dopants, often employed to stabilize the fast ion conducting cubic garnet phase, typically have no effect on the chemical stability of LLZO in contact with Li metal but have been found recently to impact the properties of the Li/garnet interface. For dopants more "reducible"than Zr (e.g., Nb and Ti), contradictory reports of either raised or reduced Li/garnet interfacial resistances have been attributed to the dopant. Here, we investigate the Li/LLZO interface in W-doped Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZWO) to determine the influence of a "reducible"dopant on the electrochemical properties of the Li/garnet interface. Single-phase LLZWO is synthesized by a new sol-gel approach and densified by spark plasma sintering. Interrogating the resulting Li/LLZWO interface/interphase by impedance, muon spin relaxation and X-ray absorption spectroscopies uncover the significant impact of surface lithiation on electrochemical performance. Upon initial contact, an interfacial reaction occurs between LLZWO and Li metal, leading to the reduction of surface W6+ centers and an initial reduction of the Li/garnet interfacial resistance. Propagation of this surface reaction, driven by the high mobility of Li+ ions through the grain surfaces, thickens the resistive interphases throughout the material and impedes Li+ ion transport between the grains. The resulting high resistance accumulating in the system impedes cycling at high current densities. These insights shed light on the nature of lithiated interfaces in garnet solid electrolytes containing a reducible dopant where high Li+ ion mobility and the reducible nature of the dopant can significantly affect electrochemical performance.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Muon; garnet; LLZO; solid electrolyte; reducible dopant; impedance |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 27 Apr 2023 13:43 |
Last Modified: | 27 Apr 2023 13:43 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00379 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00379 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:198573 |