Design Dynamic Stability for Lithium Metal Solid-State Batteries

Ceramic sulfide shows the highest ionic conductivity amongst different solid electrolytes, making it one of the most promising candidates for solid state batteries. However, the narrow intrinsic electrochemical stability window of the electrolyte and interface decompositions in both anode and cathode remain a problem for its application in solid state batteries. We understand and control the decomposition electrochemistry of the bulk sulfides and their interfaces, which is critical to the design of sulfide based solid state batteries.<br/>Further discussion will focus on the application of interface decompositions of ceramic sulfides as a route toward dynamic stability, to prevent lithium dendrite penetration during battery cycling. By combining sulfide electrolytes with different electrochemical stabilities, a solid-state battery design with a hierarchy of interface stabilities to lithium metal (dendrite) is presented. The battery is designed with the structure of a less-stable solid electrolyte layer sandwiched between more-stable solid electrolyte layers. In the layer of the less-stable electrolyte, Li dendrite and the electrolyte form well localized decompositions that both fill local cracks and inhibit the propagation of lithium dendrite growth. With this dynamic stability design, solid state batteries using commercial cathode and Li metal anode can show superior cycling performance.<br/>Reference:<br/><b>Luhan Ye</b>, and Xin Li. "A dynamic stability design strategy for lithium metal solid state batteries." <i>Nature</i> 593, no. 7858 (2021): 218-222.<br/><b>Luhan Ye</b>*, William Fitzhugh*, Eva Gil González, Yichao Wang, Yibo Su, Haoqing Su, Tianyu Qiao et al. "Toward Higher Voltage Solid State Batteries by Metastability and Kinetic Stability Design." <i>Advanced Energy Materials</i> 10, no. 34 (2020): 2001569.<br/>Yibo Su*, <b>Luhan Ye*,</b> William Fitzhugh, Yichao Wang, Eva Gil González, In Kim, and Xin Li. "A more stable lithium anode by mechanical constriction for solid state batteries." <i>Energy & Environmental Science</i> 13, no. 3 (2020): 908-916.