Effect of MnO2 Dopant on Properties of Na+-β/β"-Al2O3 Solid Electrolyte Prepared by a Synthesizing-cum-sintering Process

Abstract

In order to simplify the complexity of the conventional solid-state reaction process, Na+-β/β″-Al2O3 as a fast Na+-ionic conductive solid electrolyte was fabricated using a synthesizing-cum-sintering process combined with the double-zeta method, which is able to distribute a small amount of Li2O more homogeneously in the Na2O-Al2O3-Li2O system. Additionally, in order to enhance the ionic conductivity, MnO2 was used as a dopant to increase the Na+-ion concentration on the conduction plane in the Na+-β/β″-Al2O3 crystal structure. The relative sintered density increased with the synthesis temperature, ultimately reaching 99.7 % after synthesis at 1400 °C. The phase formation showed an overall β″-phase fraction over 90 %. The addition of MnO2 had a positive effect on the phase formation, but a negative influence on the relative density resulting from the grain growth promotion effect. The highest ionic conductivity was observed at 1.74 × 10-1 S/cm (350 °C) for the sample sintered at 1600 °C with 0.5 wt.% MnO2.