Defect Chemistry and Na-Ion Diffusion in Na3Fe2(PO4)3 Cathode Material

Navaratnarajah Kuganathan, Alexander Chroneos

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    29 Citations (Scopus)
    57 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    In this work, we employ computational modeling techniques to study the defect chemistry, Na ion diffusion paths, and dopant properties in sodium iron phosphate [Na3Fe2(PO4)3] cathode material. The lowest intrinsic defect energy process (0.45 eV/defect) is calculated to be the Na Frenkel, which ensures the formation of Na vacancies required for the vacancy-assisted Na ion diffusion. A small percentage of Na-Fe anti-site defects would be expected in Na3Fe2(PO4)3 at high temperatures. Long-range diffusion of Na is found to be low and its activation energy is calculated to be 0.45 eV. Isovalent dopants Sc, La, Gd, and Y on the Fe site are exoergic, meaning that they can be substituted experimentally and should be examined further. The formation of Na vacancies and Na interstitials in this material can be facilitated by doping with Zr on the Fe site and Si on the P site, respectively.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1348
    Number of pages10
    JournalMaterials
    Volume12
    Issue number8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 25 Apr 2019

    Bibliographical note

    This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
    (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

    Keywords

    • Na3Fe2(PO4)3
    • defects
    • Na-ion diffusion
    • dopant
    • atomistic simulation

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Materials Science (miscellaneous)

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