Enhancement of Superionic Conductivity by Halide Substitution in Strongly Stacking Faulted Li₃HoBr_6–xI_x Phases

Ternary lithium halide-based solid electrolytes have attracted broad scientific interest due to their high ionic conductivities in conjunction with good electrochemical stabilities against high-voltage cathode materials. Here, we analyze the structure of the rare earth halide solid solution series Li3HoBr6–xIx and quantify structural defects such as intralayer cation disorder and stacking faults. Almost all members of the solid solution series show strong stacking fault disorder, whereas the intralayer cation disorder systematically increases with increasing iodide content. The substitution of bromide by iodide in Li3HoBr6–xIx leads to an increasing lattice softness and therefore to a higher ionic conductivity and to a lower activation energy. This is counteracted by the increased cation disorder, which also has a strong influence on the ionic conductivity of the solid solution series. Thus, a decrease in ionic conductivity by one order of magnitude is observed when the iodine content exceeds an optimum value. Stacking faults on the other hand do not have a significant impact on the ionic conductivity as the connectivity between neighboring lithium halide octahedra and hence the energy landscape of their migration pathways is not affected for equivalent stacking vectors. The competing factors above give rise to an optimum ionic conductivity at x ≈ 3 with 2.7 × 10–3 S cm–1 at 20 °C and an activation energy of 0.21 eV. While thermal annealing reduces the structural disorder of Li3HoBr6–xIx, the self-healing properties are significantly impeded by mechanical sample treatment, demonstrating the complex interplay between thermal and mechanical effects on the microstructure and, hence, ionic conductivity of layered superionic conductors.