August 2026

Journal

La2Zr2O7 Nanoparticle-Mediated Synthesis of Porous Al-Doped Li7La3Zr2O12 Garnet

By:
Sacci, Robert L; McAuliffe, Rebecca D; Malkowski, Thomas F; Kidder, Nathan M; Chen, Xi ; Kirkham, Melanie J; Armstrong, Beth L; Daemen, Luc ; Veith, Gabriel M
Journal Name:
Inorganic Chemistry
Page Number:
10012-10021
Volume:
60
Issue Number:
13
Publication Date:
August 19, 2026
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c01300

Abstract

In this work, we modified the reaction pathway to quickly (minutes) incorporate lithium and stabilize the ionic conducting garnet phase by decoupling the formation of a La–Zr–O network from the addition of lithium. To do this, we synthesized La2Zr2O7 (LZO) nanoparticles to which LiNO3 was added. This method is a departure from typical solid-state synthesis methods that require high-energy milling to promote mixing and intimate particle–particle contact and from sol–gel syntheses as a unique porous microstructure is obtained. We show that the reaction time is limited by the rate of nitrate decomposition and that this method produces a porous high-Li-ion-conducting cubic phase, within an hour, that may be used as a starting structure for a composite electrolyte.