Understanding the Effect of Interlayers at the Thiophosphate Solid Electrolyte/Lithium Interface for All-Solid-State Li Batteries

All-solid-state Li-ion batteries afford possibilities to enhance battery safety while improving their energy and power densities. Current challenges for achieving high-performance all-solid-state batteries with long cycle life include shorting resulting predominantly from Li dendrite formation and infiltration through the solid electrolyte (SE) and increases in cell impedance induced by SE decomposition at the SE/electrode interface. In this work, we evaluate the electrochemical properties of two interlayer materials, Si and Li_xAl_(2-x/3)O₃ (LiAlO), at the Li₇P₃S₁₁ (LPS)/Li interface. Compared to the Li/LPS/Li symmetric cells in absence of interlayers, the presence of Si and LiAlO both significantly enhance the cycle number and total charge passing through the interface before failures resulting from cell shorting. In both cases, the noted improvements were accompanied by cell impedances that had increased substantially. The data reveal that both interlayers prevent the direct exposure of LPS to the metallic Li and therefore eliminate the intrinsic LPS decomposition that occurs at Li surfaces before electrochemical cycling. After cycling, a reduction of LPS to Li₂S occurs at the interface when a Si interlayer is present; LiAlO, which functions to drop the potential between Li and LPS, suppresses LPS decomposition processes. The relative propensities toward SE decomposition follows from the electrochemical potentials at the interface, which are dictated by the identities of the interlayer materials. As a result, this work provides new insights into the phase dynamics associated with specific choices for SE/electrode interlayer materials and the requirements they impose for realizing high efficiency, long lasting all-solid-state batteries.