Improving Ion Conductivity in All-Solid-State Batteries
Professor Yongseok Choi's research team at Dankook University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering has succeeded in developing a technology that can enhance the ionic conductivity of all-solid-state batteries. Professor Yongseok Choi.
Dankook University announced on the 26th that the research team led by Professor Choi Yongseok from the Department of Advanced Materials Engineering has succeeded in developing a technology that can increase the ionic conductivity of all-solid-state batteries.
This research was conducted jointly with Professor Lee Jaechul of Korea University and Dr. Jung Kyungyun of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) to overcome the risk of fire and explosion caused by separator damage due to external shock or deformation, which is the biggest drawback of lithium-ion batteries using liquid electrolytes currently in widespread use.
Already, the related industry is actively researching all-solid-state batteries as the next-generation batteries to replace the risks of liquid electrolytes.
All-solid-state batteries use solid electrolytes for charging and discharging, and since there is no separator, the risk of fire or explosion is low and the energy density is high. However, the slow ionic conductivity for lithium ions has been an obstacle to commercialization.
The research team synthesized powders of two types of sulfide-based solid electrolytes?sulfides (lithium sulfide, phosphorus pentasulfide, germanium disulfide) and chlorides (germanium chloride, silver chloride)?at high temperatures to develop solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity.
The solid electrolytes developed by the team showed ionic conductivity improved by 50?80% compared to existing materials (2.39, 12.4 mS/cm), displaying ionic conductivity (~10 mS/cm) similar to that of conventional liquid electrolytes.
The research team utilized machine learning-based atomic modeling techniques to calculate atomic structures in multidimensional nanostructure units. Through this, they identified the reasons for the improved ionic conductivity of the developed electrolytes and proposed an effective method for selecting heterogeneous elements to enhance the ionic conductivity of solid electrolytes.
Professor Choi Yongseok said, "This research is expected to contribute to accelerating the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries by improving ionic conductivity, which has been a major hurdle in their development. Going forward, we will continue to study various properties such as the stability and mechanical properties of solid electrolytes to optimize them for all-solid-state batteries."
This research, with Professor Choi as the first author, was published in two papers in the international academic journal 'Carbon Energy (IF: 19.5)' in the field of energy and fuels.
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