The inherent high resistance of electrolyte/electrode interface in all-solid-state-lithium-secondary batteries (SSLB) poses a significant hurdle for the SSLB development. The interfacial resistivity between Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 (LLZ) and LiCoO 2 is decreased by introducing a thin Nb layer (~10 nm) at this interface. The interface modification approach using a Nb interlayer dramatically improves the discharge capacity and rate capability of a SSLB.

Strontium titanate (SrTiO(3)) nanoparticles with well defined cubic shape and sub-10 nm size that are highly dispersible in non-polar organic solvents were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal (HT) processing. Water-soluble titanium complexes and strontium hydroxide were employed as precursors. When the HT process was carried out without oleic acid, the SrTiO(3) particles obtained were relatively large and aggregated. However, SrTiO(3) nanocubes that are highly dispersible in hexane were obtained via the HT process using oleic acid and hydrazine.

We prepared thick and dense-crystalline LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NMC) composite films at room temperature that can work well as cathodes in all-solid-state battery cells. The thick films were fabricated by aerosol deposition using NMC powder (D50=10.61 m) as a source material. Commercially-obtained NMC powder did not form films at all on silicon wafer substrates, and cracking of the substrates was observed. However, a few tens of nanometer coating with amorphous niobium oxide resulted in the deposition of 7 m-thick crystalline dense composite films. The films were successfully fabricated also on Li +-conductive glass-ceramic sheets with 150 m in thickness, and all-solid-state batteries were fabricated. The solid-state battery provided a cathode-basis discharge capacity of 152 mAh g-1 (3.0-4.2 V, 0.025 C, 333 K) and repeated charge-discharge cycles for 20 cycles.

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Energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) was applied for investigating interfaces between a polymer and an adhesive. The sample employed in this work is polybutylene terephtharate (PBT) sheets laminated with an epoxy adhesive. It was found that heat aging of the PBT at 180 degrees C in air for > 9 h prior to adhesion decreases the adhesion strength drastically. To investigate this unfavourable aging effect on the adhesion strength, we performed elemental mapping and image EELS using EFTEM. A weak boundary layer with a thickness of < 50 nm was visualized at the PBT-adhesive interface by elemental mapping in the sample subjected to the heat aging and image EELS revealed the origin of this layer. Thus, we clearly correlated the nanoscale interfacial structure with the adhesion strength by EFTEM.