Date Available

11-2-2017

Year of Publication

2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering (MSMSE)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Engineering

Department/School/Program

Chemical and Materials Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Yang-Tse Cheng

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to generate fundamental understandings of charge transport behaviors of composites consisting of garnet structured Al substituted Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) electrolyte and LiCoO2 electrode. In order to take full advantage of all-solid-state batteries, bulk type composite electrodes should be introduced to increase energy and power density. However, the charge utilization of bulk type composite electrodes is quite low. Understanding ionic conduction behavior is, therefore, important for improving the performance of all-solid-state batteries, because ion conduction within solids depends on effective pathways. Electronic conductivity can be easily compensated by adding carbon black, but ionic conductivity can only depend on composites electrode itself. Here, we show that electronic and ionic conductivities of composites consisting of LiCoO2 and Al doped LLZO can be achieved separately. 3D reconstructed image obtained from focused ion beam-scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) demonstrates that porosity, percolation, and grain boundaries often play antagonistic roles in controlling the charge transport behaviors in the composite electrodes, resulting in an overall conductivity dominated by electrons. This work suggests an approach to optimize electronic and ionic conductivities for bulk type composite electrodes, which may eventually be utilized in all-solid-state batteries.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.427

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