Ceramic materials processing for Solid-State Batteries

Solid State Batteries

Despite the Rapid growth of lithium batteries in the past couple of decades, there have been no major developments, currently, no batteries exist that can handle the common problem of degradation and higher charge cycles. My mentor has been working on mitigating these issues by working on the advancement of solid-state batteries by the processing of high-entropy Li-Garnet electrolytes. Replacing the flammable organic electrolyte with a much safer Solid- state electrolyte, SSB or Solid-State batteries can essentially address the safety issues of traditional Lithium batteries. We explain the development of this electrolyte and establish the properties it entails.

Powders were prepared through the solid-state synthesis method (Solid-state synthesis is a method of creating new materials or compounds by directly combining solid reactants under controlled temperature and pressure conditions, without the presence of a solvent or liquid phase.) Stochiometric amounts of powders of 5,10 and 15 grams with about 10% excess are balled milled for 30 minutes using zirconia milling media and isopropyl alcohol as the liquid media. The mixture is then dried so that the isopropyl alcohol can be evaporated, this is done at about 250* C and then later pressed into pellets. It is then followed by 1-hour ball milling using zirconia milling media to reduce the particle size. The mixture is then again dried up at 250* C and then pressed into small pellets of diameter of about 38 mm under the pressure of 5 tons using a hydraulic press. The pellets are then surrounded by the same powder and then placed in an alumina crucible to be sintered at up to 1100*C for 14 hours. The sintered samples are then polished down using isopropyl alcohol as a lubricant. The final dimensions of the pellets can be adjusted by controlling the polishing time. A silver conductivity coating is then applied to the samples and then they go through the electro-conductivity test. This study provides us with valuable information on solid electrolyte materials that have high Li+       conductivity, low electronic conductivity, and fast charge transfer at the electrode interface.