Elaboration and characterization of a free standing LiSICON membrane for aqueous lithium-air battery

Laurent Puech (1) , Christophe Cantau (1) , Philippe Vinatier (1) , Gwenaëlle Toussaint (2) , Philippe Stevens (2)

1 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux
2 EIFER - European Institute For Energy Research

In order to develop a LISICON separator for an aqueouslithium-airbattery, a thin membrane was prepared by a tape-casting of a Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7 (PO4)3-AlPO4 based slip followed by a sintering step. By optimizing the grain sizes, the slip composition and the sintering treatment, the mechanical properties were improved and the membrane was reduced to a thickness of down to 40 μm. As a result, the ionic resistance is relatively low, around 38 Ω for a 55 μm membrane of 1 cm2. One side of the membrane was coated with alithium oxynitrured phosphorous (LiPON) thin film to prevent lithium metal attack. Lithium metal was electrochemically deposited on the LiPON surface from a saturated aqueous solution of LiOH. However, the ionic resistance of the LiPON film, around 67 Ω for a 1.2 μm film of 1 cm2, still causes an important ohmic loss contribution which limits the power performance of a lithium-air battery.

Keywords: Metal-airbattery; Lithium anode; Li2O-Al2O3-TiO2-P2O5 system; LiPON; Solid electrolyte

Domains: Material chemistry

Laurent Puech, Christophe Cantau, Philippe Vinatier, Gwenaëlle Toussaint, Philippe Stevens. Elaboration and characterization of a free standing LiSICON membrane for aqueous lithium-air battery. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 214, pp.330-336. ⟨10.1016/j.jpowsour.2012.04.064⟩. ⟨hal-00702379⟩