Investigations on pure and Ag doped lithium lanthanum titanate (LLTO) nanocrystalline ceramic electrolytes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries

The nano-crystalline Li_0.5La_0.5TiO₃ (LLTO) was prepared as an electrolyte material for lithium-ion batteries. The effect of Ag⁺ ion doping in three different concentrations were investigated: Ag_0.1Li_0.4La_0.5TiO₃, Ag_0.3Li_0.2La_0.5TiO₃, and Ag_0.5La_0.5TiO₃ along with Li_0.5La_0.5TiO₃. The prepared pure and Ag⁺ doped LLTO were subjected for structural, morphological, electrical and optical characterizations. The cubic superlattice structure of LLTO nano-powder was altered due to the Ag⁺ substitution tending towards a tetragonal phase. Increasing Ag⁺ substitution a complete tetragonal phase occurs in Ag_0.5La_0.5TiO₃. The average particle size of the prepared ceramic electrolyte ranged between 80 nm and 120 nm. The photoluminescence study reveals that the LLTO and Ag doped LLTO gives a blue emission peak. The size effect on grain and grain boundary resistance was observed and reported. With Ag⁺ substitution, the conductivity got decreased due to the impedance caused by Ag⁺ ions in the conducting path of Li⁺ ion. Among all the samples, Ag_0.5La_0.5TiO₃ shows maximum conductivity of the order of 10^?3 S cm^?1.