Operando EDXRD Study of All‐Solid‐State Lithium Batteries Coupling Thioantimonate Superionic Conductors with Metal Sulfide
Xiao Sun, Alyssa M. Stavola, Daxian Cao, Andrea M. Bruck, Ying Wang, Yunlu Zhang, Pengcheng Luan, Joshua W. Gallaway, Hongli Zhu
Abstract
Abstract Sulfide solid‐state electrolytes have remarkable ionic conductivity and low mechanical stiffness but suffer from relatively narrow electrochemical and chemical stability with electrodes. Therefore, pairing sulfide electrolytes with the proper cathode is crucial in developing stable all‐solid‐state Li batteries (ASLBs). Herein, one type of thioantimonate ion conductor, Li 6+ x Ge x Sb 1− x S 5 I, with different compositions is systematically synthesized and studied, among these compositions, an outstanding ionic conductivity of 1.6 mS cm −1 is achieved with Li 6.6 Ge 0.6 Sb 0.4 S 5 I. To improve the energy density and advance the interface compatibility, a metal sulfide FeS 2 cathode with a high theoretical capacity (894 mAh g −1 ) and excellent compatibility with sulfide electrolytes is coupled with Li 6.6 Ge 0.6 Sb 0.4 S 5 I in ASLBs without additional interface engineering. The structural stabilities of Li 6.6 Ge 0.6 Sb 0.4 S 5 I and FeS 2 during cycling are characterized by operando energy dispersive X‐ray diffraction, which allows rapid collection of structural data without redesigning or disassembling the sealed cells and risking contamination by air. The electrochemical stability is assessed, and a safe operating voltage window ranging from 0.7≈2.4 V (vs. In–Li) is confirmed. Due to the solid confinement in the ASLBs, the Fe 0 aggregation and polysulfides shuttle effects are well addressed. The ASLBs exhibit an outstanding initial capacity of 715 mAh g −1 at C/10 and are stable for 220 cycles with a high capacity retention of 84.5% at room temperature.