New Oxychloride Solid

A research team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has developed a new type of solid-state electrolyte called lithium zirconium oxychloride (LZCO). This electrolyte offers good performance and is cost-effective, making it a promising option for all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs).

ASSLBs have gained attention as a safer alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries and have the potential for higher energy density. However, the development of high-performance solid-state electrolytes for ASSLBs has been limited by their high cost.

The researchers addressed this issue by synthesizing LZCO from affordable compounds like lithium hydroxide monohydrate, lithium chloride, and zirconium chloride. As a result, the cost of LZCO is as low as $11.60 per kilogram, which is significantly below the $50 per kilogram threshold for commercialization. It is also much cheaper than other high-performance solid-state electrolytes, which can cost over $190 per kilogram.

Despite its low cost, LZCO delivers impressive performance. It exhibits a room-temperature ionic conductivity of up to 2.42 mS cm^-1, which is one of the highest among all reported solid-state electrolyte materials. Additionally, LZCO has excellent compressibility, achieving a density of 94.2% under 300 MPa pressure. This compressibility surpasses that of sulfide and chloride solid-state electrolytes, which typically have densities below 90% at the same pressure.

Experimental results demonstrate that LZCO performs comparably to advanced sulfide and chloride solid-state electrolytes. When combined with a nickel-rich layered cathode, an ASSLB using LZCO shows exceptional performance, maintaining stability for over 2,000 cycles under 12-minute fast charging conditions at room temperature.

The development of this new solid-state electrolyte represents a significant breakthrough in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness, bringing commercialization of ASSLBs closer to reality.

Source:Lv Hu et al, “A cost-effective, ionically conductive and compressible oxychloride solid-state electrolyte for stable all-solid-state lithium-based batteries,” Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39522-1