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A two-dimensional type I superionic conductor

Nature Materials volume 20, pages 1683–1688 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Superionic conductors possess liquid-like ionic diffusivity in the solid state, finding wide applicability from electrolytes in energy storage to materials for thermoelectric energy conversion. Type I superionic conductors (for example, AgI, Ag2Se and so on) are defined by a first-order transition to the superionic state and have so far been found exclusively in three-dimensional crystal structures. Here, we reveal a two-dimensional type I superionic conductor, α-KAg3Se2, by scattering techniques and complementary simulations. Quasi-elastic neutron scattering and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the superionic Ag+ ions are confined to subnanometre sheets, with the simulated local structure validated by experimental X-ray powder pair-distribution-function analysis. Finally, we demonstrate that the phase transition temperature can be controlled by chemical substitution of the alkali metal ions that compose the immobile charge-balancing layers. Our work thus extends the known classes of superionic conductors and will facilitate the design of new materials with tailored ionic conductivities and phase transitions.

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Fig. 1: QENS of KAg3Se2.
Fig. 2: Molecular dynamics simulations and structural comparison.
Fig. 3: Local structure analysis.
Fig. 4: Effects of cation substitution.

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Data availability

Data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to W. Xu for assistance in the acquisition and analysis of X-ray total scattering data and to E. Mamontov for valuable discussions concerning the QENS data analysis. M.J.J. acknowledges HORIBA-Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA), University College London (UCL) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (EP/R513143/1) for a Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) studentship. This work was performed primarily at the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. We gratefully acknowledge the computing resources provided on Bebop, the high-performance computing clusters operated by the Laboratory Computing Resource Center at Argonne National Laboratory. First-principles modelling at Duke University (J.D., O.D.) was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under award no. DE-SC0019299. Work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT–Battelle for the US Department of Energy under contract no. DEAC05-00OR22725. This work made use of the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC) facility at Northwestern University, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-2025633) and Northwestern University. A.J.E.R. and M.J.J. gratefully acknowledge the Faraday Institution Lithium-Sulfur Technology Accelerator (LiSTAR) programme (FIRG014, EP/S003053/1) for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA

    Alexander J. E. Rettie, Xiuquan Zhou, Duck Young Chung, Raymond Osborn, Stephan Rosenkranz & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

  2. Electrochemical Innovation Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, UK

    Alexander J. E. Rettie & Michael J. Johnson

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Jingxuan Ding & Olivier Delaire

  4. Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Christos D. Malliakas & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

  5. Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Naresh C. Osti

  6. Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Olivier Delaire

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Contributions

A.J.E.R., S.R. and M.G.K. conceived the study. A.J.E.R., X.Z. and D.Y.C. synthesized and characterized all materials. A.J.E.R., R.O. and N.C.O. acquired and analysed the neutron scattering data. J.D. and O.D. performed the AIMD simulations. M.J.J. and C.D.M. conducted the PDF analysis and structural modelling. The manuscript was mainly written and revised by A.J.E.R., S.R. and M.G.K. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alexander J. E. Rettie, Stephan Rosenkranz or Mercouri G. Kanatzidis.

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Peer review information Nature Materials thanks Stefan Adams, Tom Nilges and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

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Supplementary Figs. 1–18 and Discussion.

Supplementary Video 1

Animation of molecular dynamics simulations of α-KAg3Se2 at 800 K.

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Rettie, A.J.E., Ding, J., Zhou, X. et al. A two-dimensional type I superionic conductor. Nat. Mater. 20, 1683–1688 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01053-9

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