PI: Tianhao Wang

A shear-assisted pressing/sintering method is developed for fabricating solid-state electrolytes and potentially an entire solid-state battery. As compared with applying a uniaxial load in the conventional process, an additional torque (shear stress) is applied to the precursor powders during the novel shear-assisted method. The temperature, load, and torque during shear-assisted pressing/sintering are measured and maintained by implementing a closed-loop control system. The additional shear stress on the precursor powders can increase the compaction level in the electrolyte, therefore, reducing the required sintering time and porosity in the final component. Meanwhile, the shear stress can facilitate more intimacy among the particles as well as increase the homogeneity of powder mixtures, which would lead to an enhancement in ion conductivity, electrochemical stability, and mechanical property of electrodes and solid-state electrolytes. In summary, the long-standing challenges of increasing the performance of all-solid-state batteries become achievable via the novel shear-assisted pressing/sintering method.