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On the length scale and rate-dependent mechanical behavior of monolithic (oxy)sulfidic glassy solid-state electrolytes

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Abstract

In the controlled atmosphere of a dedicated glove box, nanoindentation performed with a diamond Berkovich indenter tip has been used to examine the mechanical behavior of three (oxy)sulfide solid-state electrolytes (SSEs), 70Li2S·(30−x)P2S5·xP2O5 (x = 0, 2, and 5). At a drive frequency of 120 Hz, the elastic modulus is found to be predominantly depth independent over the range of 100 nm to 1 μm and generally insensitive to the varying mol fraction of oxygen (0, 2, and 5%) as well as the imposed strain rates of 0.025, 0.05, and 0.1 1/s. All three SSEs exhibit significant room-temperature creep. Strain burst activity observed during loading (potentially representative of pore collapse or cracking) is attenuated with the addition of oxygen. The hardness is found to be insensitive to the imposed strain rates but varying with depth and oxygen content. The highest oxygen concentration yields the lowest hardness and strongest depth dependence.

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Nanoindentation of monolithic (oxy)sulfide glass solid-state electrolytes in an inert environment yields rate and depth dependent behavior.

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Data presented in this manuscript will be made available by the authors upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Battery Materials Research Program (BMR) in the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Vehicle Technology Office (VTO) (DE-EE0008857). Support for Erik Herbert was provided by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the Vehicle Technologies Office’s Advanced Battery Materials Research Program (S. Thompson, Program Manager). Erik was also supported by DOE, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with ORNL, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC.

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  1. Mechanical Properties & Mechanics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Rd., Oak Ridge, TN, 37830, USA

    Erik G. Herbert

  2. Battery R&D, General Motors Global R&D, 30470 Harley Earl Blvd., Warren, MI, 48092-2031, USA

    Yubin Zhang & Thomas A. Yersak

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TAY and EGH conceived of work, acquired funding, and prepared the manuscript. YZ prepared the samples. EGH performed the measurements and data analyses.

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Correspondence to Thomas A. Yersak.

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Herbert, E.G., Zhang, Y. & Yersak, T.A. On the length scale and rate-dependent mechanical behavior of monolithic (oxy)sulfidic glassy solid-state electrolytes. Journal of Materials Research (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-024-01430-5

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