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Research Reveals Potential of NASICON Type Solid Electrolytes for Charge-Storage Devices

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— 2 min read

Physicists at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have conducted a study on NASICON type solid electrolyte materials, revealing their potential for use in charge-storage devices. The research focused on the structural, resistivity, impedance, and dielectric properties of isovalent substituted NaZrTiSiPO (x = 0.1-0.4) materials. The findings show that the materials exhibit a monoclinic phase with a C2/c space group, indicating their suitability for use in electrolytes.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study found that the resistivity analysis of the materials shows an Arrhenius-type thermal conduction with an increase in activation energy with doping, which is attributed to a decrease in unit cell volume.
  • Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars (MWS) relaxation and space charge or interfacial polarization models were used to explain the frequency and temperature-dependent variations of electric permittivity.
  • The double relaxation peaks in the dielectric loss data indicate the presence of two types of relaxation mechanisms with different activation energies.
  • The real (ε') and imaginary (ε'') parts of permittivity were fitted using the modified Cole-Cole equation, confirming the non-Debye type relaxation.
  • The impedance analysis revealed contributions from grain and grain boundary relaxation, while the fitting performed using the impedance and constant-phase element (CPE) confirmed the non-Debye type relaxation.
  • The electric modulus analysis confirmed the ionic nature of the materials, with thermally activated relaxation and scaling analysis showing a similar type of relaxation in the measured temperature range.
  • The modified power law was used to understand the frequency dependence of a.c. conductivity data, and the temperature dependence of the exponent (s) suggests a change in the conduction mechanism from near small polaron tunneling (NSPT) to correlated barrier hopping (CBH) above room temperature.

Statistics:

  • The x-ray diffraction patterns show a monoclinic phase with a C2/c space group for all samples.
  • The resistivity analysis shows Arrhenius-type thermal conduction with an increase in activation energy with doping.
  • The frequency and temperature-dependent variations of electric permittivity were explained by Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars (MWS) relaxation and space charge or interfacial polarization models.
  • The double relaxation peaks in the dielectric loss data indicate two types of relaxation mechanisms with different activation energies.
  • The real (ε') and imaginary (ε'') parts of permittivity were fitted using the modified Cole-Cole equation, confirming non-Debye type relaxation.
  • The impedance analysis revealed contributions from grain and grain boundary relaxation.
  • The electric modulus analysis confirmed the ionic nature of the materials, with thermally activated relaxation.

Sources:

  • Structural and Electrical Transport Properties of NASICON type Na3Zr2 - xTixSi2PO12 (x = 0.1-0.4) Solid Electrolyte Materials, Small, 2025
  • Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Dept. of Physics, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India
  • Wiley-v C H Verlag Gmbh, Postfach 101161, 69451 Weinheim, Germany (publisher of Small journal)
  • NewsRx LLC (publisher of Physics Week news article)

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