Role of Agent Molecules for Low-Temperature Activation of Lithium-Ion Transport for Solid-State Polymer Electrolytes
Authors: Yu Jiwon , Lim Hyung-kyu , Hwang Gyeong S. , Lee Sangheon 
Published: July 2022

The realization of all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is often considered as the final challenge in the development of LIBs. Replacing Li-ion conductive liquid electrolytes with high-performance solid-state electrolytes is indispensable for the development of all-solid-state LIBs. Solid-state electrolytes under development fall into three classes: polymers, oxides, and sulfides. Polymer-based electrolytes have advantages over oxides and sulfides, such as formation of low-resistance electrolyte/electrode interfaces, good processability, and high energy-density owing to low density. Therefore, polymer-based solid-state electrolytes are being developed in both industry and academia as a practical route for realizing high-capacity LIBs.[1]
For application in commercial LIBs, the electrolyte should have an ionic conductivity higher than 10-4 S/cm at room temperature. Conventional solid polymer electrolytes, such as polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based electrolytes, do not meet the performance requirements due to insufficient ionic conductivity in the range of 10-6 to 10-5 S/cm. Recently, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)-based polymer electrolytes have been reported to yield ion conductivities as high as those of liquid electrolytes over a wide temperature range (> 1.0 × 10-4 S/cm at 25 °C, > 1.0 × 10-3 S/cm at 80 °C, and > 1.0 × 10-3 S/cm at −40 °C).[2] These electrolytes consist of base polymer chains containing PPS, Li salts that can dissociate into cations and anions, and neutral agent molecules. However, the detailed Li-ion transport mechanism in terms of the respective roles of the molecular components of PPS electrolytes is yet to be determined. This limited understanding hinders the further improvement of PPS-based electrolytes.
In this study, we perform a series of first-principle calculations and demonstrate that certain types of neutral molecules (so-called agent molecules) accelerate solid-state lithium-ion migration when mixed with lithium salts.[3] We find that the intermolecular interaction in a selected agent-molecule/lithium-salt binary system is governed by the strong coupling between lithium and oxygen atoms. Upon the addition of agent molecules, the anionic species surrounding the lithium of lithium salts is replaced by the agent molecules. The resulting weakened Coulomb energy coupling between lithium and oxygen atoms is determined to be a key factor in enabling fast lithium-ion migration via facile dissociation of lithium salts and subsequent formation of ion-hopping sites in the form of lithium-free oxygen-cages. The structure-based interpretation of agent molecules suggests that neutral molecules with functional groups which enhance chemical resonance can be selected as potential agent molecules. We believe that the results obtained in this study serve as a theoretical basis for the future development of solid-state polymer electrolytes, particularly toward mitigating the dependence of lithium-ion transport on the movement of polymer chains.
References
[1] P.V. Wright, Polymer electrolytes-the early days, Electrochim. Acta, 43 (1998) 1137-1143, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0013-4686(97)10011-1.
[2] M.A. Zimmerman, Solid ionically conducting polymer material, U.S. Patent US 2017/0005356 A1, January 5, 2017.
[3] J. Yu, M. Lee, Y. Kim, H.-K. Lim, J. Chae, G.S. Hwang, S. Lee, Agent molecule modulated low-temperature activation of solid-state lithium-ion transport for polumer electrolytes, J. Power Sources 505 (2021), 229917.

Figure 1