Ceramic electrolytes hold application prospects in all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLB). However, the ionic conductivity of ceramic electrolytes is limited by their large thickness and intrinsic resistance. To cope with this… Click to show full abstract
Ceramic electrolytes hold application prospects in all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLB). However, the ionic conductivity of ceramic electrolytes is limited by their large thickness and intrinsic resistance. To cope with this challenge, a two-dimensional (2D) vermiculite film has been successfully prepared by self-assembling expanded vermiculite nanosheets. The raw vermiculite mineral is first exfoliated to thin sheets of several atomic layers with about 1.2 nm interlayer channels by a thermal expansion and ionic exchanging treatment. Then, through vacuum filtration, the ion-exchanged expanded vermiculite (IEVMT) sheets can be assembled into thin films with a controllable thickness. Benefiting from the thin thickness and naturally lamellar framework, the as-prepared IEVMT thin film exhibits excellent ionic conductivity of 0.310 S·cm−1 at 600 °C with low excitation energy. In addition, the IEVMT thin film demonstrates good mechanical and thermal stability with a low coefficient of friction of 0.51 and a low thermal conductivity of 3.9 × 10−3 W·m−1·K−1. This reveals that reducing the thickness and utilizing the framework is effective in increasing the ionic conductivity and provides a promising stable and low-cost candidate for high-performance solid electrolytes.
               
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