Ex-situ and In-situ Analysis of Stress and Microstructure in Solid State Electrolytes after Ion Implantation

Lithium dendrites compromise the reliability of solid state batteries by a formation of short-circuits. There is a need to develop novel strategies to suppress
dendrites formation and/or decelerate their growth. Our group suggested a strategy to modify the properties of solid state electrolytes by ion
implantation, which was successfully applied to control the formation and propagation of dendrites in one of the most promising solid-state electrolytes,
Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12. The aim of the the experiments is to understand how the energy and dose of Ag ions correlate with the gradients of near-surface
microstructure and compressive stresses and to elucidate the crack deflection mechanisms in the electrolyte during dendrite growth.
The data from a preliminary experiment were just accepted in Nat. Commun.