The high-temperature transformation from 1T-to 3R-LixTiS2 (x=0.7, 0.9) as observed in situ with neutron powder diffraction

Layered titanium disulfide is used as lithium-ion intercalating electrode material in batteries. The room-temperature stable trigonal IT polymorphs of the intercalates LixTiS2(x <= 1) are widely-investigated. However, the rombohedral 3R polymorphs, being stable at higher temperatures for large x, are less well known. In this study, we report on the synthesis of phase-pure 1T-LixTiS2(x = 0.7, 0.9) and its transformation to the 3R phase between 673 and 873 K as monitored using high-temperature neutron powder diffractometry. For the 3R polymorph, full Rietveld refinements show lithium ions to be statistically distributed over octahedral voids at the fractional coordinates 0, 0, 1/2, exclusively. The comparison of Madelung energies with results of periodic quantum-chemical calculations reveals that the evolution of lattice parameters and the room-temperature stability of the IT phase are not governed by electrostatics, but by correlation and polarization. The insights gained do not only elucidate the structure of 3R-LixTiS2, but also help to understand and control polymorphism in layered transition-metal sulfides.DFG, FOR 1277, Mobilität von Lithiumionen in Festkörpern (molife

NMR and Impedance Spectroscopy Studies on Lithium Ion Diffusion in Microcrystalline γ-LiAlO2

In this work nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and impedance spectroscopy (IS) studies on Li ion dynamics in microcrystalline γ-LiAlO2 are presented. The sample was prepared by solid state synthesis between Li2CO3 and Al2O3 in air, followed by a quenching procedure. The presence of phase-pure γ-LiAlO2 was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction including Rietveld refinement. Further structural characterization was done with 6Li, 7Li and 27Al NMR. Several NMR techniques such as spin-lattice relaxation measurements, motional narrowing experiments, as well as spin-alignment echo were employed for the investigation of Li ion diffusion. The measurements were carried out at high temperatures (up to 970 K) in order to access the regime of Li ion motion being very slow. The dc conductivities measured by IS in the temperature range from 680 K to 870 K were converted to diffusion coefficients being compatible with those obtained by NMR. © 2015 Walter de Gruyter

Lithium diffusion pathways in 3R-LixTiS2: a combined neutron diffraction and computational study

Layered lithium transition-metal sulfides have long been discussed as early electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. However, fundamental knowledge of lithium-ion migration in these solids is still lacking. In this study, we report on the diffusion dynamics in lithium-deficient high-temperature polymorphs of lithium titanium sulfides (3R-LixTiS2; x = 0.7, 0.9) as analyzed using powder neutron diffractometry and density functional theory (DFT) climbing-image nudged-elastic-band (cNEB) calculations. Two classes of probable migration pathways have been identified from the scattering-length density distributions (filtered using the maximum-entropy method [MEM]) and the probability density functions (PDFs, modeled from anharmonic Debye-Waller factors): direct diffusion in the (001) plane as the major mechanism and indirect diffusion through adjacent tetrahedral voids as a minor mechanism. Calculated activation barriers agree well with one-particle potentials (OPPs) derived from measurements for Li0.7TiS2 (0.484[14] and 0.88[4] eV) but deviate for Li0.9TiS2. The discrepancy at low defect concentration is attributed to the failure of the OPP derivation and the different nature of the methods (space-time averaged vs individual-ion perspective). This work elucidates the pathways of lithium-ion diffusion in 3R-LixTiS2 and points out pitfalls in established experimental/computational methods.DFG, FOR 1277, Mobilität von Lithiumionen in Festkörpern (molife

Lattice Vibrations to Identify the Li/Na Ratio in LixNa2−xTi6O13 (x = 0…2)

LixNa2−xTi6O13has received attention as 3d-metal oxide based anode material for possible battery application. Generally, titanium oxides represent excellent Li hosts due to their zero-strain behavior, cycling stability and high operating voltage. New developments choose Na as charge carrier, but less effort is put in the investigation of mixed cation conductors. Owing to the synthesis route of LixNa2−xTi6O13(0 ≤ x ≤ 2) the coordination of Na and Li in the channels is different which had been investigated by means of X-ray and neutron diffraction. Up to now, no Raman spectroscopy has been applied. This oxide is highly Raman-active, thus the local structure can also be analyzed in terms of vibrational spectroscopy. Micro-Raman spectroscopy carried out at room temperature with different cation contents (x = 0, 0.33, 1, 2) shows the continuous change from Na to Li by a superposition of the modes for Na2Ti6O13 and Li2Ti6O13. The only exceptions are two distinct modes. They appear either for Li (118 cm–1) or Na (135 cm–1). The results confirm the high-temperature phase stability of Na2Ti6O13 as well as the anisotropic thermal expansion of the unit cell seen by in situ X-ray powder diffraction under two different gas atmospheres. Combining these results, we suppose that the anisotropic thermal expansion of the lattice parameters is affected by the normal vectors of the corresponding bond vibrations in Na2Ti6O13 and Li2Ti6O13. Crystalline-orbital calculations of the Raman shifts of LixNa2−xTi6O13were carried out for the cation contents x = 0, 1, 2 and Raman modes were assigned to specific bond vibrations supported by theory. Besides, this gives additionally information about the Li/Na ratio in a new and simple way. © 2015 Walter de Gruyter

Local Ion Dynamics in Polycrystalline β-LiGaO2: A Solid-State NMR Study

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is an efficient technique to characterize dynamics and structure of materials. It has been widely used to elucidate ion dynamics in lithium ion conductors. Fast moving lithium ions are needed in energy storage devices, whereas slow ion motion is exploited in some materials used, for example, as blankets in fusion reactors. β-lithium gallium oxide (LiGaO2) is a slow Li+ ionic conductor similar to γ-lithium aluminum oxide (LiAlO2). In an ion conductor, in addition to the main diffusion process, localized motions (to-and-fro jumps) may be present. In the present work, with the help of solid-state NMR experiments, we report on the localized movements of Li+ ionic species in β-LiGaO2 in the temperature range between 300 K and 450 K. In this work, we have mainly extracted the peculiarities of ion dynamics from 7Li spin-alignment echo NMR measurements and the observation of the motional narrowing of the central transition signal of 7Li. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2017

Energetically preferred Li+ ion jump processes in crystalline solids: Site-specific hopping in β-Li3VF6 as revealed by high-resolution 6Li 2D EXSY NMR

The visualization of atomic or ionic jump processes on the Ångström length scale is important to identify the preferred diffusion pathways in solid electrolytes for energy storage devices. Two-dimensional high-resolution 6Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is highly suited to yield unprecedented site-specific insights into local Li+ exchange processes within a single measurement. Here, the beta-modification of Li3VF6 is used as a model system for such an investigation as it provides a range of important Li+ geometric environments in one and the same crystal structure useful to elucidate qualitatively a ranking of energetic preferences of the Li+ exchange processes. In Li3VF6 the Li+ ions are subject to diffusive exchange processes among five crystallographically and magnetically inequivalent Li sites: LiFn (n = 6, 4). By using a sample with a natural concentration of the 6Li isotope, we suppressed unwanted spin-diffusion processes and visualized the various exchange processes on the ms time scale. We were able to verify the following ranking experimentally: Li+ ion jumps between face-shared polyhedra are preferred, followed by Li+ exchange between edge-shared configurations for which interstitial sites are needed to jump from site to site. Surprisingly, Li+ exchange between corner-shared polyhedra and Li+ hopping involving almost isolated LiF4 polyhedra do contribute to overall Li+ self-diffusion as well. In this sense, the current study experimentally verifies current predictions by theory but also extends our understanding of ion dynamics between corner-shared Li-bearing polyhedra

Synthesis of ternary transition metal fluorides Li 3MF 6via a sol-gel route as candidates for cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries

A sol-gel route for ternary lithium fluorides of transition metals (M) is presented allowing the synthesis of Li 3MF 6-type and Li 2MF 5-type compounds. It is based on a fluorolytic process using transition metal acetylacetonates as precursors. The domain size of the obtained powders can be controlled by modifying the conditions of synthesis. 6Li and 7Li magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is used to study local environments of the Li ions in orthorhombic and monoclinic Li 3VF 6 as well as Li 2MnF 5. The number of magnetically inequivalent Li sites found by MAS NMR is in agreement with the respective crystal structure of the compounds studied. Quantum chemical calculations show that all materials have high de-lithiation energies making them suitable candidates to be used as high-voltage battery cathode materials. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry