Xiao Yiran, Turcheniuk Kostiantyn, Narla Aashray, Song Ah-Young, Ren Xiaolei, Magasinski Alexandre, Jain Ayush, Huang Shirley, Lee Haewon, Yushin Gleb
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
College of Environment and Resources, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China.
Nat Mater. 2021 Jul;20(7):984-990. doi: 10.1038/s41563-021-00943-2. Epub 2021 Mar 8.
All-solid-state lithium (Li) metal and lithium-ion batteries (ASSLBs) with inorganic solid-state electrolytes offer improved safety for electric vehicles and other applications. However, current inorganic ASSLB manufacturing technology suffers from high cost, excessive amounts of solid-state electrolyte and conductive additives, and low attainable volumetric energy density. Such a fabrication method involves separate fabrications of sintered ceramic solid-state electrolyte membranes and ASSLB electrodes, which are then carefully stacked and sintered together in a precisely controlled environment. Here we report a disruptive manufacturing technology that offers reduced manufacturing costs and improved volumetric energy density in all solid cells. Our approach mimics the low-cost fabrication of commercial Li-ion cells with liquid electrolytes, except that we utilize solid-state electrolytes with low melting points that are infiltrated into dense, thermally stable electrodes at moderately elevated temperatures (~300 °C or below) in a liquid state, and which then solidify during cooling. Nearly the same commercial equipment could be used for electrode and cell manufacturing, which substantially reduces a barrier for industry adoption. This energy-efficient method was used to fabricate inorganic ASSLBs with LiNiMnCoO cathodes and both LiTiO and graphite anodes. The promising performance characteristics of such cells open new opportunities for the accelerated adoption of ASSLBs for safer electric transportation.
采用无机固态电解质的全固态锂（Li）金属电池和锂离子电池（ASSLB）为电动汽车及其他应用提供了更高的安全性。然而，当前的无机全固态锂电池制造技术存在成本高、固态电解质和导电添加剂用量过多以及可实现的体积能量密度低等问题。这种制造方法涉及分别制造烧结陶瓷固态电解质膜和全固态锂电池电极，然后在精确控制的环境中将它们小心堆叠并烧结在一起。在此，我们报告一种颠覆性的制造技术，该技术可降低全固态电池的制造成本并提高体积能量密度。我们的方法模仿了使用液体电解质的商用锂离子电池的低成本制造方式，不同之处在于我们使用低熔点的固态电解质，在适度升高的温度（约300°C或更低）下以液态渗透到致密、热稳定的电极中，然后在冷却过程中固化。几乎相同的商用设备可用于电极和电池制造，这大大降低了行业采用的障碍。这种节能方法被用于制造具有LiNiMnCoO阴极以及LiTiO和石墨阳极的无机全固态锂电池。此类电池具有的良好性能特性为加速全固态锂电池在更安全的电动交通领域的应用带来了新机遇。
