ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Investigating Li-ion diffusion in LiTa2-xNbxPO8 using ?+SR

Abstract: Li-ion solid-state electrolytes with high ionic conductivities are essential for advancing solid-state batteries with increased energy density. However, many of the most conductive candidates suffer from poor air stability. Recently, LiTa2PO8 (LTPO) has emerged as a promising, air-stable contender, exhibiting total ionic conductivities in the 10-4 S/cm range at room temperature. While aliovalent substitution in LTPO has been shown to increase conductivity, the effects of isovalent substitution remain unexplored. In this proposal, we aim to investigate the transport properties of a new family of compounds, LiTa2-xNbxPO8 (0 ? x ? 0.8), synthesised by conventional solid-state methods. Partial substitution of Ta5+ with Nb5+ ? which shares an identical ionic radius ? has been found to enhance pellet densification and increase total Li-ion conductivity by an order of magnitude. Despite these improvements, the underlying relationship between structure and Li-ion mobility is still unclear. To address this, we propose ?+SR experiments on three selected compositions in the series to directly probe intrinsic Li-ion diffusion parameters. ?+SR will provide complementary insights to EIS by disentangling grain boundary effects, contributing not only to a deeper understanding of the role of isovalent substitution in tuning ion transport and but also clarifying key composition?structure?property relationships in oxide SSEs.

Principal Investigator: Dr Peter Slater
Experimenter: Dr Bo Dong
Experimenter: Dr Wilgner Lima da Silva
Experimenter: Dr Nicolás Flores-González
Experimenter: Professor Duncan Gregory
Experimenter: Dr Bo Dong
Local Contact: Dr Peter Baker

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520115

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2520115

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Peter Slater et al; (2025): Investigating Li-ion diffusion in LiTa2-xNbxPO8 using ?+SR , STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520115

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.