ENHANCED CONDUCTIVITY OF PEROVSKITE LITHIUM-ION CONDUCTORS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NANO-CELLULOSE FIBRES

A perovskite type lithium-ion conductor Li 0.33 La 0.56 TiO 3 was prepared and the influence of the addition of nano-cellulose in different amounts was investigated in this paper. The powders for making the pellets were prepared via the sol-gel method. The calcined powders were pressed into green pellets, which were subsequently sintered at high temperatures to attain densified pellets. Upon doping, the particle sizes of the calcined powders prepared via the sol-gel method were reduced. The total conductivities and the grain-boundary conductivities of the sintered pellets were enhanced with the addition of the nano-cellulose, while the grain conductivities were not necessarily increased. The total conductivity peaked at the addition of 1.5 g of nano-cellulose. The enhancement in the total conductivity resulted from an increase in the grain-boundary conductivity, which was attributed to the fact that the boundaries between the grains became indistinct. The indistinct grain boundaries facilitate the migration of lithium ions across the boundaries, thereby increasing the grain-boundary conductivity.