La<sub>2</sub>Zr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub> Nanoparticle-Mediated Synthesis of Porous Al-Doped Li<sub>7</sub>La<sub>3</sub>Zr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>12</sub> Garnet
Robert L. Sacci, Rebecca D. McAuliffe, Thomas F. Malkowski, Nathan Kidder, X. Chelsea Chen, Ashfia Huq, Melanie Kirkham, Beth L. Armstrong, Luke L. Daemen, Gabriel M. Veith
Abstract
In this work, we modified the reaction pathway to quickly (minutes) incorporate lithium and stabilize the ionic conducting garnet phase by decoupling the formation of a La–Zr–O network from the addition of lithium. To do this, we synthesized La2Zr2O7 (LZO) nanoparticles to which LiNO3 was added. This method is a departure from typical solid-state synthesis methods that require high-energy milling to promote mixing and intimate particle–particle contact and from sol–gel syntheses as a unique porous microstructure is obtained. We show that the reaction time is limited by the rate of nitrate decomposition and that this method produces a porous high-Li-ion-conducting cubic phase, within an hour, that may be used as a starting structure for a composite electrolyte.