Keisuke
Makino
a,
Naoto
Tanibata
*a,
Takaaki
Natori
b,
Tomoko
Nakano
b,
Hayami
Takeda
a and
Masanobu
Nakayama
a
aDepartment of Advanced Ceramics, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8555, Japan. E-mail: tanibata.naoto@nitech.ac.jp
bToagosei Co., Ltd, Nagoya Criatio R&D Center, 8, Showa-cho, Minato-ku, Nagoya, Japan
First published on 20th June 2025
All-solid-state Na-ion batteries have attracted considerable attention because of their advantages such as high safety, high energy density, and low cost. Solid electrolytes used in these batteries require high Na-ion conductivity to minimize energy loss, high electronic resistivity to prevent self-discharge, and high oxidation resistance to enable the use of high-potential cathodes. Recently, NaTaCl6 was reported to possess both high oxidation resistance and ionic conductivity, and its ionic conductivity improved with a decrease in its crystallinity. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to further reduce the crystallinity of NaTaCl6 and improve its ionic conductivity and electronic resistivity through multicomponentization. The verified composition was Na2Ta0.625Zr0.25Ga0.125Cl5.625(CO3)0.25(BO3)0.125, wherein polyatomic anions (CO32− and BO33−) were expected to have inductive effects that maintained the high oxidation resistance of chloride. Through multicomponentization, the NaTaCl6 phase transitioned to a low-crystallinity state, resulting in a significant improvement in the ionic conductivity (1.2 × 10−3 S cm−1), which was approximately ten times higher than that of crystalline NaTaCl6 (1.1 × 10−4 S cm−1). The electronic resistivity of the low-crystallinity multicomponent was more than one order of magnitude higher than that of crystalline NaTaCl6, effectively suppressing self-discharge and improving the energy-storage preservation properties of the material. Furthermore, the multicomponent NaTaCl6 retained a high oxidation resistance with an oxidation limit of 4.6 V vs. Na/Na+. Thus, this multicomponentization strategy simultaneously retains high oxidation resistance while improving the ionic conductivity and electronic resistivity of the electrolyte material, thereby enabling the development of high-performance all-solid-state Na-ion batteries.
We performed a multicomponent modification of the chloride solid electrolyte NaTaCl6 to further improve its ionic conductivity while maintaining its high oxidation resistance. Our approach focused on developing low-crystallinity compounds with a high Na+ concentration by substituting multiple elements for the cation (Ta5+) and anion (Cl−). The multicomponentization of the system was expected to stabilize the low-crystallinity state.25,26 The mixed-anion effect, which improves ionic conductivity, is a well-known phenomenon attributed to anion complexation within amorphous structures.27 In addition, the ionic conductivity in the amorphous structures increases exponentially with the carrier ion concentration,28 suggesting that increasing the Na concentration through charge compensation associated with elemental substitution can significantly enhance ionic conductivity. Ta5+ (r = 0.64 nm; 6-coordination), Zr4+ (r = 0.72 nm; 6-coordination), and Ga3+ (r = 0.62 nm; 6-coordination)29 were selected as cation substitutes. These elements have a lower valence than pentavalent Ta5+ but possess similar ionic radii. For the anion substitution of Cl−, ions with valences higher than those of monovalent Cl− were necessary for increasing the Na concentration. However, a key challenge is that monatomic ions with higher valences than Cl− (such as S2− and P3−) can undergo oxidation at low potentials,30 which would loses the high oxidation resistance typical of chlorides. Thus, polyatomic anions with a thermodynamic radius rH similar to that of Cl− (r = 1.81 nm),29 specifically CO32− (rH = 1.78 nm), and BO33− (rH = 1.91 nm),31 were selected. These anions were selected because of their high resistance to oxidation, which is attributed to the inductive effect 32 of their highly electronegative cations (C4+ and B3+). Furthermore, energy storage preservation performance is a critical parameter in batteries.33,34 Although Li-ion batteries are known for their lower self-discharge and superior energy storage preservation performance compared to those of other systems such as Ni-metal hydride batteries,35 the use of solid electrolytes often characterized by lower electronic resistivity than that of liquid electrolytes raises concerns about potential self-discharge caused by electronic conduction in the solid electrolyte. The low electronic resistivity of solid electrolytes can promote the growth of metal dendrites, thereby leading to short-circuiting and eventual cell failure.36 Reducing the crystallinity of a material increases its electrical resistivity.37 We aimed to achieve low electronic conductivity, which can improve battery storage properties by inducing low crystallinity through the multicomponentization of the system.
In this study, we explored the incorporation of multiple components into the highly ionically conductive NaTaCl6 chloride to simultaneously enhance its ionic conductivity and electronic resistivity while maintaining its high oxidation resistance. To achieve multicomponentization, Zr4+, Ga3+, CO32−, and BO33− were selected as the substituted species for the aforementioned reasons.
The Raman spectra of NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 are shown in Fig. 1(d and e), respectively. The low-Raman shift peak at ∼400 cm−1, indicated by the black circle in Fig. 1(d), appears at a lower position for Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 compared with the corresponding peak for NaTaCl6. According to Ohno et al.,38 in Na1+xTa1−xZrxCl6 (where NaTaCl6 is doped with Zr), the [TaCl6]− peak shifts toward lower Raman shifts with an increase in the amount of Zr doping (x). Thus, the shift of the black circular peak to a lower Raman shift in this study could likely be attributed to Zr and Ga doping. In addition, for Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3, the black circular peak broadened because of the low crystallinity of the NaTaCl6 phase. Further, several shoulder peaks appeared on the lower Raman shift side of the black circular peak; this was not observed for NaTaCl6, which was attributed to contributions from the [GaCl6]3− and [ZrCl6]2− peaks.38 The peaks observed near 900 cm−1 (red circle) and 1100 cm−1 (black circle) in Fig. 1(e) are attributed to the BO33− unit39 and CO32− unit,40 respectively, thereby confirming the presence of these polyatomic anion units without decomposition. Further, we performed time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) measurements, which showed high spatial resolution even for such insulating samples, to observe the dispersion of these units.41 The TOF-SIMS spectra are shown in Fig. S1(a and b),† which primarily display signals attributed to the units of each cation (Na, Ta, Zr, Ga, and B) and anion (Cl and O). The spatial distributions of these ions are shown in Fig. 1(f and g), which indicate that all constituent elements, except for the CO3 unit, are uniformly present at the submicrometer scale. The absence of the CO3 unit is likely caused by its tendency to desorb as CO2 during TOF-SIMS measurements. The Cole–Cole plots from the AC impedance measurements for NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 at various temperatures are shown in Fig. 2(a and b), respectively. The shape of the Cole–Cole plots shows a partial semicircle on the high-frequency side, along with a slope on the low-frequency side attributed to the ion-blocking electrode, thereby indicating that the resistance of the semicircle is caused by ionic conduction. Although both bulk and grain boundary resistances were expected for the pressed powder samples, they could not be individually distinguished from the plots. Therefore, the total resistance (sum of the bulk and grain boundary resistances) was considered in the evaluation of ionic conductivity. The total ionic conductivities were calculated using the resistance values indicated by the black arrows in the plots. The ionic conductivity of Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 (1.2 × 10−3 S cm−1) was approximately ten times higher than that of NaTaCl6 (1.1 × 10−4 S cm−1), despite the presence of NaCl as an impurity. The ionic conductivity of the components (terminal compounds) added in this study is low (Na2ZrCl6; 1.8 × 10−5 S cm−1,42 Na3BO3; 1.5 × 10−8 S cm−1,43etc.), and this improvement in ionic conductivity can be achieved because of the multicomponent nature of the material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the cross sections of the NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 pellets (Fig. S2(a and b),† respectively) show that the grain boundaries nearly disappeared in both samples after cold pressing, suggesting that even the multicomponent material retained the high deformability derived from chloride,44,45 and that the grain boundary resistance has a minimal impact on these materials. The Arrhenius plot in Fig. 2(c) revealed that the activation energy of low-crystallinity Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 was 0.30 eV, which is lower than that of crystalline NaTaCl6 (0.36 eV). This decrease in the activation energy indicates that the potential landscape for the carrier ions is smoothed by the effects described above.
The results of the DC polarization tests (Fig. 3) provide valuable insights into the electronic resistivity of NaTaCl6 and the multicomponent Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 system. The electronic resistivity calculated from the steady-state current values was found to be 6.7 × 109 Ω cm for NaTaCl6 and 1.2 × 1010 Ω cm for Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3. These values suggest that electronic resistivity increased by approximately twofold after multicomponentization of the material. The rapid relaxation of the current values observed in the initial phase of the test for both samples was attributed to the polarization of ions, which likely resulted from the high ionic conductivity of the materials. Notably, this relaxation rate was faster in Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3, which was consistent with its higher ionic conductivity compared to that of NaTaCl6.
Fig. 4 shows the linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) results for NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3. The slight difference between these plots suggests that the high oxidation resistance derived from chloride was retained even with the substitution of polyatomic anions (CO32− and BO33−). The larger current values in Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 compared to those in NaTaCl6 may be attributed to the higher ionic conductivity of Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3. First-principles calculations were performed to validate oxidation limits. Data for NaTaCl6, obtained from the Materials Project, an inorganic material database, were used as the original cell structure for these calculations. The number of atoms in the cell was set to 32, and the oxidation limit potential was calculated based on the energy difference between the original composition and the composition without Na atoms. Na desorption model calculations indicated an oxidation limit of 4.6 V vs. Na/Na+ for NaTaCl6. The thermodynamic oxidation limit was investigated by extracting the compositional data of the decomposition components from the Materials Project and performing convex-hull calculations for these components. Details of the calculations are provided in the ESI.† The oxidation limit determined using the convex-hull model calculation was determined to be 3.6 V vs. Na/Na+. The oxidation of the material is expected to cause decomposition through the reaction NaTaCl6 → Na + TaCl5 + 1/2Cl2. The oxidation limits for NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 are estimated to be 4.6 V vs. Na/Na+ based on Fig. 4. This value was consistent with the results of the Na desorption model calculations. These findings suggest that the reaction predicted by the convex-hull model calculations was not observed in the actual LSV measurements because of the high resistance caused by significant structural changes. In addition, these oxidation limits (4.6 V vs. Na/Na+) are higher than the oxidation limit reported by Hu et al. for NaTaCl6 (4.1 V vs. Na/Na+).18 One possible reason for this discrepancy is the black discoloration of the NaTaCl6 sample.
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Fig. 4 LSV results. The black and red circles indicate the middle outliers for NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3, respectively. The cell configuration used in the measurements was Na10Sn4 (ref. 46)|Na3PS4|NaTaCl6|measurement sample + KB. |
Fig. 5 compares the performance of the materials obtained in this study (NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3) with those of representative Na-ion-conductive chlorides, sulfides, selenides, and oxides (Na2.88Sb0.88W0.12S4,47 Na3PS4,48 Na11Sn2PS12,49 Na3Zr2Si2PO12,50,51 Na3PSe4,52 Na3−xY1−xZrxCl6,20 Na2.5Cr0.5Zr0.5Cl6,53 Na2ZrCl6,22 NaAlCl4,23 NaTaCl6 (black)18). The ionic conductivities and electronic resistivities are shown in Fig. 5(a) and Table S1.† Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3 obtained in this study exhibited superior ionic conductivity and higher electronic resistivity than the other chlorides, with relatively high values.
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Fig. 5 Comparison of the performance of the materials obtained in this study (NaTaCl6 and Na–Ta–Zr–Ga–Cl–CO3–BO3) with representative Na-ion conductive materials (Na2.88Sb0.88W0.12S4,47 Na3PS4,48 Na11Sn2PS12,49 Na3Zr2Si2PO12,50,51 Na3PSe4,52 Na3−xY1−xZrxCl6,20 Na2.5Cr0.5Zr0.5Cl6,53 Na2ZrCl6,22 NaAlCl4,23 NaTaCl6 (black color)18). (a) Axes show the logarithm of ionic conductivity versus the logarithm of electronic resistivity. (b) Comparison of the time until complete energy loss from a full charge occurs due to leakage current, derived from the electronic resistivity of the electrolyte. This time is calculated using the electronic conduction resistance of the electrolyte layer and the leakage current value, determined by Ohm's law from a typical battery voltage of 3 V. |
In addition, to demonstrate the effectiveness of this high electronic resistivity, we estimated the time required for complete energy loss caused by self-discharge using the leakage current value calculated from the electronic conduction resistance of the electrolyte layer and Ohm's law based on the voltage of a typical battery (3 V). This calculated time is likely to be underestimated, as energy losses can occur because of factors such as reactions between the electrode and electrolyte. Assumed parameters,54 such as battery capacity (1.2 mA h cm−2) and electrolyte thickness (20 μm), are summarized in Table S2†. Fig. 5(b) compares these results with those of representative Na-ion-conductive materials.
Sulfides tend to have higher electronic conductivity than chlorides. In this hypothetical experiment, the time to lose energy from a full charge, calculated from the electronic conductivity of the sulfide showing the highest Na-ion conductivity (Na2.88Sb0.88W0.12S4), was within half a day (0.4 d). However, chlorides exhibit a low electronic conductivity, which increases the time required for energy loss. However, the previously reported black NaTaCl6 (ref. 18) lost its fully charged energy in approximately one month (26.7 days). It has been suggested that an electronic conductivity of approximately 10−10 S cm−1 or lower is required to preserve energy storage properties for more than six months.
In this study, we successfully reduced the crystallinity of NaTaCl6 while maintaining its white color and significantly extended the time required for complete energy loss from full charging. Specifically, through multicomponentization, the time to discharge the full-charge energy exceeded 13 months (406.5 d). This result indicated that the multicomponentization approach used in this study effectively enhanced the energy-storage preservation characteristics by suppressing the self-discharge of the battery.
Footnote |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ta08447k |
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2025 |