Ceramicized NASICON-based solid-state electrolytes for lithium metal batteries

In this work, we have developed ceramicized hybrid solid state electrolytes (SSEs), which consisted of poly (vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoro propylene) (PVDF-HFP), lithium bis (trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) salt, and sodium superionic conductor (NASICON)-type Li1+xAlxTi2-x(PO4)(3) (LATP) powders for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) utilizing lithium metal anode. Adopting the sol-gel synthesis technique followed by a thermal calcination at 850 degrees C, we synthesized round-like LATP powders with an average particle size of similar to 30 mu m. Engineering the LATP content (similar to 45 wt.%) within the hybrid SSEs, we were able to achieve thermal stability along with superior ionic conductivity (i.e., 1.40 x 10(-4) S cm(-1) at 30 degrees C). Employing the Arrhenius plot in the temperature range of 30-70 degrees C, the activation energy for the ionic conduction was lowered significantly (i.e., 0.21 eV) compared to prior efforts reported in the literature (i.e., 0.27 - 0.35 eV). The application of highly optimized SSE within a LIB with lithium metal anode resulted in the maximal capacity of similar to 162 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 C. The cyclic performance of the battery utilizing such an optimized SSE configuration was very robust with a highly stable coulombic efficiency (similar to 96.7%) after 100 cycles. Indeed, the ceramicized LATP-based SSEs developed in this work, can be employed for boosting the ionic conductivity, specific capacity, and cycle life while mitigating the interfacial resistance of the electrolyte/electrode layer for LIBs with lithium metal anode.