Identification of New Lithium Rich Phases in Li-Nb/Ta-O Series using Neutron Diffraction and Pair Distribution Function

Discovery of new Li ion conducting oxides with simpler stoichiometries is a key challenge in making solid-state energy storage more accessible. While focusing on Li rich materials we have been developing materials with varying Li-M ratios (M=Nb and Ta) for potential use in Li ion batteries. Due to the difficulty of synthesis and ensuing structural/Li inhomogeneity, structural databases currently lack accurate structural information for these phases. Initial characterisation of these 4 Li rich phases using laboratory X-ray diffraction suggests a lower symmetry and fairly disordered structures, and therefore we would like to collect the Neutron Diffraction - Pair Distribution Function data on GEM facility at ISIS. We also ask for complementary X ray data on these samples.