The effect of volume change and stack pressure on solid‐state battery cathodes

Abstract Solid‐state lithium batteries may provide increased energy density and improved safety compared with Li‐ion technology. However, in a solid‐state composite cathode, mechanical degradation due to repeated cathode volume changes during cycling may occur, which may be partially mitigated by applying a significant, but often impractical, uniaxial stack pressure. Herein, we compare the behavior of composite electrodes based on Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) (negligible volume change) and Nb 2 O 5 (+4% expansion) cycled at different stack pressures. The initial LTO capacity and retention are not affected by pressure but for Nb 2 O 5 , they are significantly lower when a stack pressure of <2 MPa is applied, due to inter‐particle cracking and solid‐solid contact loss because of cyclic volume changes. This work confirms the importance of cathode mechanical stability and the stack pressures for long‐term cyclability for solid‐state batteries. This suggests that low volume‐change cathode materials or a proper buffer layer are required for solid‐state batteries, especially at low stack pressures.