AC impedance analysis of ionic and electronic conductivities in electrode mixture layers for an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery

• Ionic and electronic effective conductivities of electrode layers were measured.
• TLMs with electronic resistance were used for the analysis of EIS.
• An alternative way to use TLMs, named “electron-electron connection”, is proposed.
• The obtained ionic conductivities were compatible with those by traditional way.

The ionic and electronic effective conductivities of an electrode mixture layers for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries containing Li2SP2S5 as a solid electrolyte were investigated by AC impedance measurements and analysis using a transmission-line model (TLM). Samples containing graphite (graphite electrodes) or LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM electrodes) as the active material were measured under a “substrate | sample | bulk electrolyte | sample | substrate” configuration (ion-electron connection) and a “substrate | sample | substrate” configuration (electron-electron connection). Theoretically, if the electronic resistance is negligibly small, which is the case with our graphite electrodes, measurement with the ion-electron connection should be effective for evaluating ionic conductivity. However, if the electronic resistance is comparable to the ionic resistance, which is the case with our NCM electrodes, the results with the ion-electron connection may contain some inherent inaccuracy. In this report, we theoretically and practically demonstrate the advantage of analyzing the results with the electron-electron connection, which gives both the ionic and electronic conductivities. The similarity of the behavior of ionic conductivity with the graphite and NCM electrodes confirms the reliability of this analysis.

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