Nanoscale deagglomeration and dispersion of solid electrolyte oxides using an airflow mill.

Nanoscale Deagglomeration and Dispersion of Solid-State Electrolyte Oxides Using Jet Mills

Why is Nanonization of Solid-State Electrolyte Oxides Necessary?

1. Enhanced Ionic Conductivity: Nanonization significantly increases the number of grain boundaries, providing more rapid migration pathways for lithium ions, thereby improving overall ionic conductivity.

2. Reduced Sintering Temperature: Nanoparticles possess higher surface energy and greater reactivity, enabling densification sintering at lower temperatures and reducing side reactions with cathode materials.

3. Improved Interfacial Contact: Nanoscale particles can form tighter and more uniform contact with active cathode and anode material particles, establishing a continuous ion conduction network and lowering interfacial resistance.

4. Deagglomeration of Soft Aggregates: Synthesized solid-state electrolyte powders (such as LLZO, etc.) commonly exhibit soft agglomeration. Jet milling effectively breaks these soft aggregates, yielding monodispersed primary nanoparticles.

Why are Jet Mills the Ideal Choice?

Jet mills utilize high-speed airflow (typically supersonic) to achieve particle size reduction through inter-particle collision, friction, and shear. Their core advantages make them particularly suitable for processing solid-state electrolytes:

· Contamination-Free: The entire milling process relies on material self-collision, avoiding the introduction of metal or ceramic grinding media, thus ensuring high purity of the solid-state electrolyte.

· Low-Temperature Milling: Airflow expansion at the nozzle absorbs heat, lowering the system temperature and preventing structural damage to thermally sensitive materials due to localized overheating.

· Narrow Particle Size Distribution: Precise control via the classifier wheel yields products with highly concentrated particle size distributions, facilitating subsequent uniform coating and sintering.

· Efficient Deagglomeration: Highly effective at breaking soft agglomerates between nanoparticles, efficiently releasing primary particles.