Evaluations of Thermal Diffusivity and Electrochemical Properties for Lithium Hydride and Electrolyte Composites

Abstract

There is ongoing research to develop lithium ion batteries as sustainable energy sources. Because of safety problems, solid state batteries, where electrolytes are replaced with solids, are attracting attention. Sulfide electrolytes, with a high ion conductivity of 10-3 S/cm or more, have the highest potential performance, but the price of the main materials is high. This study investigated lithium hydride materials, which offer economic advantages and low density. To analyze the change in ion conductivity in polymer electrolyte composites, PVDF, a representative polymer substance was used at a certain mass ratio. XRD, SEM, and BET were performed for metallurgical analyses of the materials, and ion conductivity was calculated through the EIS method. In addition, thermal conductivity was measured to analyze thermal stability, which is a major parameter of lithium ion batteries. As a result, the ion conductivity of LiH was found to be 10-6 S/cm, and the ion conductivity further decreased as the PVDF ratio increased when the composite was formed.