Defect-Mediated Conductivity Enhancements in Na _{3– x} Pn _{1– x} W _x S ₄ (Pn = P, Sb) Using Aliovalent Substitutions

The sodium-ion conducting family of Na3PnS4, with Pn = P, Sb, has gained interest for the use in solid-state batteries due to their high ionic conductivity. However, significant improvements to the conductivity have been hampered by the lack of aliovalent dopants that can introduce vacancies into the structure. Inspired by the need for vacancy introduction into Na3PnS4, the solid solutions with WS42– introduction are explored. The influence of the substitution with WS42– for PS43– and SbS43– is monitored using a combination of X-ray diffraction, Raman, and impedance spectroscopy. With increasing vacancy concentration, improvements resulting in a very high ionic conductivity of 13 ± 3 mS·cm–1 for Na2.9P0.9W0.1S4 and 41 ± 8 mS·cm–1 for Na2.9Sb0.9W0.1S4 can be observed. This work acts as a stepping-stone toward further engineering of ionic conductors using vacancy injection via aliovalent substituents.