Microstructure, mechanical properties, and ionic conductivity of a solid-state electrolyte prepared using binderless laser powder bed fusion

Manipulating the microstructure of the glass-ceramic solid-state electrolyte, Li1+xAlxTi2-x(PO4)3 (LATP), improves performance by enhancing ionic conductivity; however, conventional glass-ceramic processing requires multiple processing steps to successfully develop the microstructure. Laser-based additive manufacturing techniques, such as laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), offer a novel approach to single-step fabrication of glass-ceramics for battery applications. We investigate the influence of the L-PBF processing on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and ionic conductivity of the lithium-ion battery solid-state electrolyte LATP. This study demonstrates that binderless L-PBF produces relatively dense LATP samples with the desired rhombohedral crystal structure and mechanical properties consistent with conventional LATP. We find that laser scan speed influences the development of secondary phase particles, which affect the ionic conductivity. Further parameter optimization will improve the ionic conductivity of L-PBF LATP to enable single-step fabrication of battery components using binderless laser-based additive manufacturing.