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Nanoconfined LiBH 4 as a Fast Lithium Ion Conductor
Author(s) -
Blanchard Didier,
Nale Angeloclaudio,
Sveinbjörnsson Dadi,
Eggenhuisen Tamara M.,
Verkuijlen Margriet H. W.,
Vegge Tejs,
Kentgens Arno P. M.,
de Jongh Petra E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201402538
Subject(s) - materials science , lithium (medication) , fast ion conductor , mesoporous material , chemical engineering , ion , borohydride , phase (matter) , conductivity , ionic conductivity , electrolyte , phase transition , nanocomposite , nanotechnology , chemistry , electrode , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , medicine , physics , engineering , endocrinology , catalysis
Designing new functional materials is crucial for the development of efficient energy storage and conversion devices such as all solid‐state batteries. LiBH 4 is a promising solid electrolyte for Li‐ion batteries. It displays high lithium mobility, although only above 110 °C at which a transition to a high temperature hexagonal structure occurs. Herein, it is shown that confining LiBH 4 in the pores of ordered mesoporous silica scaffolds leads to high Li + conductivity (0.1 mS cm −1 ) at room temperature. This is a surprisingly high value, especially given that the nanocomposites comprise 42 vol% of SiO 2 . Solid state 7 Li NMR confirmed that the high conductivity can be attributed to a very high Li + mobility in the solid phase at room temperature. Confinement of LiBH 4 in the pores leads also to a lower solid‐solid phase transition temperature than for bulk LiBH 4 . However, the high ionic mobility is associated with a fraction of the confined borohydride that shows no phase transition, and most likely located close to the interface with the SiO 2 pore walls. These results point to a new strategy to design low‐temperature ion conducting solids for application in all solid‐state lithium ion batteries, which could enable safe use of Li‐metal anodes.