A team at University of Liverpool in England reports discovering a new solid lithium electrolyte that ‘rapidly conducts lithium ions’. A February 15, 2024 university press release claims the new substance is ‘one of a very small number of solid materials … able to replace liquid electrolytes’. Their investigative technique also makes interesting reading.
A Novel Method to Discover a Solid Lithium Electrolyte
The Liverpool team used what they call a ‘transformative scientific approach’ when designing the new solid lithium electrolyte material. In highlight terms, this involved a combination of artificial intelligence and physics-based calculations.
The research report (see second link below) summarizes their discovery as follows: ‘We created a pure lithium-ion conductor … by an ordering of sulfide and iodide … that combines elements of hexagonal and cubic close-packing.
‘This resulted in a diverse network of lithium positions with distinct geometries and anion coordination chemistries. It affords low barriers to transport, opening a large structural space for high cation conductivity.’
A Solution Comprising Non-Toxic Earth-Abundant Elements
The new solid lithium electrolyte material has sufficient conductivity to replace current lithium-ion liquid electrolytes. This appears to be valuable input to developing safer batteries addressing the global net-zero goal.
University of Liverpool’s Prof Matt Rosseinsky summarizes the team’s discovery as follows:
- Their work describes a new functional material, changing our understanding of high-performance solid-state electrolyte materials.
- It confirms that various solids can perform this task, ‘dramatically opening up the chemical space available for further discoveries’.
- Artificial intelligence tools may generate materials similar to known ones when working within their knowledge base.
- Whereas, our disruptive approach combining AI and physics-based calculations, enabled us to break out of that box.
The University of Liverpool team appears to have moved battery research outward, by developing a novel route to discovering new, high-performance solid electrodes.
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