Lithium stuffed garnet setter plates for solid electrolyte fabrication
Setter plates are fabricated from Li-stuffed garnet materials having the same, or substantially similar, compositions as a garnet Li-stuffed solid electrolyte. The Li-stuffed garnet setter plates, set forth herein, reduce the evaporation of Li during a sintering treatment step and/or reduce the loss of Li caused by diffusion out of the sintering electrolyte. Li-stuffed garnet setter plates, set forth herein, maintain compositional control over the solid electrolyte during sintering when, upon heating, lithium is prone, to diffuse out of the solid electrolyte.
1. A method of using a setter plate to fabricate a Li-stuffed garnet solid electrolyte film for a rechargeable battery, the method comprising:
placing a green film of unsintered Li-stuffed garnet precursor materials between two setter plates; and
sintering the green film between and in contact with the two setter plates;
wherein the setter plates comprise a Li-stuffed garnet;
wherein the thickness of each of the two setter plates is about 0.5 mm to about 100 mm.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising placing a metal foil or metal powder between at least one setter plate and the green film prior to the sintering the green film.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the green film has a surface defined by a first lateral dimension from 1 cm to 50 cm and a second lateral dimension from 1 cm to 50 cm.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sintering comprises heating the green film and the two setter plates and exposing the green film and the two setter plates to an Argon:H 2 mixed atmosphere.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sintering produces a sintered Li-stuffed garnet solid electrolyte less than 100 microns thick and more than 1 nm thick.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sintered Li-stuffed garnet solid electrolyte has an ASR between 0.1 Ω·cm 2 to 10 Ω·cm 2 at 50° C.
7. A method of using a setter plate to fabricate a Li-stuffed garnet solid electrolyte for a rechargeable battery, the method comprising:
placing a green film of unsintered Li-stuffed garnet precursor materials between two setter plates, wherein each of the two setter plate individually comprises a member selected from Li 2 ZrO 3 , xLi 2 O-(1−x)SiO 2 (where x=0.01-0.99), aLi 2 O-bB 2 O 3 -cSiO 2 (where a+b+c=1), LiLaO 2 , LiAlO 2 , Li 2 O, Li 3 PO 4 , a Li-stuffed garnet, and combinations thereof; and
sintering the green film between and in contact with the two setter plates;
wherein the thickness of each of the two setter plates is about 0.5 mm to about 100 mm.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the green film is a tape-cast film.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sintering atmosphere comprises, Air, Argon, Nitrogen, an Argon:H 2 mixture, or an Argon:H 2 :H 2 O mixture.
10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising placing a metal foil or metal powder between the setter plate and the green film prior to the sintering the green film.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the metal is Ni, Cu, Fe, Al, Ag, combinations thereof, or alloys thereof.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the green film has a surface defined by a first lateral dimension from 1 cm to 50 cm and a second lateral dimension from 1 cm to 50 cm.
13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the green film has a thickness between 1 μm to about 100 μm.
14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sintering comprises heating the green electrolyte film and the two setter plates to between 450° C. and 1300° C.
15. The method claim 7 , wherein the sintering comprises heating the green film and the two setter plates and exposing the green film and the two setter plates to an Argon:H 2 mixed atmosphere.
16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sintering produces a sintered Li-stuffed garnet solid electrolyte less than 50 microns thick.
17. The method of claim 7 , further comprising providing a rechargeable battery comprising the Li-stuffed garnet solid electrolyte.