​With automotive applications increasing demand for batteries, and a need for more large-scale energy storage systems, there is a push to develop new battery technologies. Sodium-ion batteries are emerging as a leading alternative to lithium-ion, as sodium is both cheaper and more widely available than lithium. The use of organic liquid sodium electrolytes raises concerns over safety and the available operating voltage window, but solid-state electrolytes could increase safety and energy density, increase the number of cycles possible and facilitate the use of versatile battery cell geometries.

In work published in Chemical Communications, researchers now at the University of Sheffield and the ISIS used muon spin relaxation measurements on EMU to investigate the transport properties of a novel, sodium-rich double perovskite (Na_1.5La_1.5TeO₆). Their results revealed a low activation energy barrier for sodium diffusion, demonstrating that this material shows great promise for use as an electrolyte in solid-state sodium batteries.

Instrument: EMU

Related publication: “Na_1.5La_1.5TeO₆: Na⁺ conduction in a novel Na-rich double perovskite", Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 10040, DOI: 10.1039/c8cc03367f

Authors: Marco Amores (University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde), Peter J. Baker (ISIS), Edmund J. Cussen (University of Strathclyde) and Serena A. Corr (University of Glasgow).