Strain-Dependent Ionic Transport in Li3YCl6 Solid Electrolytes

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Huang, Wei-Fan, Dai, Jin, Pan, Jiahui, Wen, Mingjian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Huang, Wei-Fan
Dai, Jin
Pan, Jiahui
Wen, Mingjian
author_facet Huang, Wei-Fan
Dai, Jin
Pan, Jiahui
Wen, Mingjian
contents Solid-state batteries require electrolytes that sustain high ionic conductivity under the mechanical environment of a functioning cell. Lattice strain, arising from stack pressure, thermal cycling, or lattice mismatch at interfaces, can either enhance or suppress Li+ transport in solid electrolytes, yet how it couples to the underlying diffusion mechanism remains poorly understood. Using Li3YCl6 halide superionic conductor, we address this with large-scale molecular dynamics simulations driven by an Atomic Cluster Expansion (ACE) machine learning interatomic potential trained on first-principles data. The ACE model faithfully reproduces experimental and \textit{ab initio} structural, mechanical, and transport properties of Li3YCl6. We find that Li+ diffusion in Li3YCl6 follows a two-regime Arrhenius behavior, crossing over at a critical temperature $T_c$ from one-dimensional hopping at low temperature to three-dimensional cooperative diffusion at high temperature. Strain substantially modulates diffusivity: tensile strain enhances it while compressive strain suppresses it, yet leaves $T_c$ invariant, indicating that strain tunes diffusion efficiency without reshaping the underlying transport framework. In each regime, the mechanistic origin differs: altered activation barriers dominate at low temperature, while modified pre-exponential factors become critical at high temperature. These results establish lattice strain as a design lever for ionic conductivity in Li3YCl6 solid-state electrolytes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_05603
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strain-Dependent Ionic Transport in Li3YCl6 Solid Electrolytes
Huang, Wei-Fan
Dai, Jin
Pan, Jiahui
Wen, Mingjian
Materials Science
Solid-state batteries require electrolytes that sustain high ionic conductivity under the mechanical environment of a functioning cell. Lattice strain, arising from stack pressure, thermal cycling, or lattice mismatch at interfaces, can either enhance or suppress Li+ transport in solid electrolytes, yet how it couples to the underlying diffusion mechanism remains poorly understood. Using Li3YCl6 halide superionic conductor, we address this with large-scale molecular dynamics simulations driven by an Atomic Cluster Expansion (ACE) machine learning interatomic potential trained on first-principles data. The ACE model faithfully reproduces experimental and \textit{ab initio} structural, mechanical, and transport properties of Li3YCl6. We find that Li+ diffusion in Li3YCl6 follows a two-regime Arrhenius behavior, crossing over at a critical temperature $T_c$ from one-dimensional hopping at low temperature to three-dimensional cooperative diffusion at high temperature. Strain substantially modulates diffusivity: tensile strain enhances it while compressive strain suppresses it, yet leaves $T_c$ invariant, indicating that strain tunes diffusion efficiency without reshaping the underlying transport framework. In each regime, the mechanistic origin differs: altered activation barriers dominate at low temperature, while modified pre-exponential factors become critical at high temperature. These results establish lattice strain as a design lever for ionic conductivity in Li3YCl6 solid-state electrolytes.
title Strain-Dependent Ionic Transport in Li3YCl6 Solid Electrolytes
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05603