Abstract
Science 2022, 378, 1320-1324
High-entropy mechanism to boost ionic conductivity
Zeng Y, Ouyang B, Liu J, Byeon YW, Cai Z, Miara LJ, Wang Y, Ceder G
A key property for solid-state battery electrolytes is the ability to rapidly transport lithium ions. This property can be achieved by developing a percolating pathway or by increasing the mobility of the carrier ions in the electrolyte. However, standard design methods limit the selection of dopants and complicate the synthesis. Zeng et al. adapted some of the concepts of high-entropy materials to the development of solid electrolytes (see the Perspective by Botros and Janek). The addition of a mixture of high-entropy metal cations induces local disorder, thus creating overlapping site energy distributions for charge-carrying ions. This approach results in a percolating network of connected sites with a reduced energy difference and correspondingly fast lithium ion transport, as demonstrated for lithium- and sodium-based batteries.