Nanoconfined LiBH4 as a fast lithium ion conductor

Abstract

Designing new functional materials is crucial for the development of efficient energy storage and conversion devices such as all solid-state batteries. LiBH4 is a promising solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries. It displays high lithium mobility, although only above 110°C at which a transition to a high temperature hexagonal structure occurs. Herein, it is shown that confining LiBH4 in the pores of ordered mesoporous silica scaffolds leads to high Li+ conductivity (0.1 mS cm-1) at room temperature. This is a surprisingly high value, especially given that the nanocomposites comprise 42 vol% of SiO2. Solid state 7Li NMR confirmed that the high conductivity can be attributed to a very high Li+ mobility in the solid phase at room temperature. Confinement of LiBH4 in the pores leads also to a lower solid-solid phase transition temperature than for bulk LiBH4. However, the high ionic mobility is associated with a fraction of the confined borohydride that shows no phase transition, and most likely located close to the interface with the SiO2 pore walls. These results point to a new strategy to design low-temperature ion conducting solids for application in all solid-state lithium ion batteries, which could enable safe use of Li-metal anodes.