Defect, transport, and dopant properties of andradite garnet Ca3Fe2Si3O12

Navaratnarajah Kuganathan, Sashikesh Ganeshalingam, Alexander Chroneos

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    7 Citations (Scopus)
    15 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    There is growing interest to discover suitable calcium containing oxides that can be used as electrode materials in calcium ion batteries. A comprehensive computational investigation of ionic defects and Ca-ion diffusion in Ca-bearing oxide materials at the atomic level is important so as to predict their suitability for use in Ca-ion batteries. In this study, we apply atomistic simulation techniques to examine the energetics of defects, dopants, and Ca-ion diffusion in Ca3Fe2Si3O12. The calculations suggest that the Ca/Fe anti-site defect is the most favorable intrinsic defect causing such significant disorder, which would be sensitive to synthesis conditions. Diffusion of Ca2+ ions within Ca3Fe2Si3O12 is three-dimensional, with the activation energy of migration of 2.63 eV inferring slow ionic conductivity. The most favorable isovalent defects are Mn2+, Sc3+, and Ge4+ on Ca, Fe, and Si, respectively, for this process. The formation of extra calcium was considered to increase the capacity and diffusion of Ca in this material. It is found that Al3+ and Mn2+ are the candidate dopants on the Si and Fe sites, respectively, for this process and there is a reduction observed in the activation energies. The electronic structures of favorable dopant configurations are discussed using density functional theory simulations.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number075004
    Number of pages8
    JournalAIP Advances
    Volume10
    Issue number7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2020

    Bibliographical note

    © 2020 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license
    (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

    Funder

    European Union’s H2020 Programme under Grant Agreement No. 824072– HARVESTORE

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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