Structure and properties of high Li2O-containing aluminophosphate glasses

The present study reports on the characterisation of the structure and properties of 50Li2O·xAl2O3·(50 − x)P2O5 glasses. The objective of the work has been to study the influence of the alumina content on the properties of lithium phosphate glasses, and the room temperature ionic conductivity in particular, with potential application as solid electrolytes in lithium secondary batteries. The glass formation domain has been also determined, proving that Al2O3 can be introduced only up to 5 mol%. The addition of alumina results in the increase of the glass transition temperature and decrease of the molar volume of the glasses. Furthermore, both chemical durability and room temperature conductivity increase as a function of the alumina content. The structure of the glasses has been followed by means of Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and NMR spectroscopy, which has been used to establish the structure–properties relationship.