Solid-state Battery Breakthrough Sets Record As Lithium Ions Move 30% Faster

Solid-state batteries often hailed as the holy grail of energy storage just got a major boost from a German research team that has developed a material capable of conducting lithium ions 30% faster than any previous known substance.

In a study published in Advanced Energy Materials, scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and TUMint.Energy Research introduced a novel lithium-antimony-scandium compound that sets a new global benchmark for lithium-ion conductivity.

Led by Prof. Thomas F. Fässler, the team created the new material by partially substituting lithium atoms with scandium in a lithium antimonide crystal. This clever swap produced vacancies tiny gaps in the lattice which act like express lanes for lithium ions. “These vacancies supercharge ion flow,” said Fässler. “It’s a concept that could serve as a blueprint for other material systems.”

Due to the material’s dual conductivity (it moves both ions and electrons), the team enlisted Prof. Hubert Gasteiger and colleagues at TUM’s Chair of Technical Electrochemistry to rigorously validate the results. Adjusted measurement techniques confirmed the record-setting conductivity.

“Because the material also conducts electricity, it presented a special challenge,” said co-author Tobias Kutsch, who led the validation tests.

Besides its conductivity, the material is thermally stable and manufacturable with conventional chemical methods, making it a promising candidate for practical energy storage. The research also uncovered a new class of substances that could apply the same vacancy engineering technique to other lithium-based systems like lithium-phosphorus using simpler elemental combinations.

“Unlike the previous record-holder, which required five optimization elements, our system uses only one: scandium,” said Jingwen Jiang, lead author and scientist at TUMint.Energy Research.

Though more testing is needed before the material enters commercial batteries, the team has already filed a patent, signaling strong confidence in its potential for electrode additives and beyond.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *