Electrical properties of garnet-like lithium ionic conductors LiSrLaBiO fabricated by spark plasma sintering method.

A typical approach involving Pechini method and spark plasma sintering (SPS) method was presented for the preparation of high density LiSrLaBiO ( x = 0, 1) ceramics. Phase formation, microstructure, grain size and electrical properties of the specimens were examined using XRD, SEM and alternating current impedance spectroscopy (ACIS). Dense LiLaBiO and LiSrLaBiO ceramics with pure garnet-like phase, relative density of 97% and average grain size of about 5 μm were fabricated using this approach. The total conductivities at 298 K of LiLaBiO and LiSrLaBiO ceramics prepared by the SPS method are 5.1×10 and 6.8×10 S/cm, respectively, 2 times higher than that of samples prepared by the conventional sintering method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]