The rational development
of fast-ion-conducting solid electrolytes
for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries requires understanding the
key structural and chemical principles that give some materials their
exceptional ionic conductivities. For the lithium argyrodites Li
6
PS
5
X (X = Cl, Br, or I), the choice of the halide,
X, strongly affects the ionic conductivity, giving room-temperature
ionic conductivities for X = {Cl,Br} that are ×10
3
higher than for X = I. This variation has been attributed to differing
degrees of S/X anion disorder. For X = {Cl,Br}, the S/X anions are
substitutionally disordered, while for X = I, the anion substructure
is fully ordered. To better understand the role of substitutional
anion disorder in enabling fast lithium-ion transport, we have performed
a first-principles molecular dynamics study of Li
6
PS
5
I and Li
6
PS
5
Cl with varying amounts
of S/X anion-site disorder. By considering the S/X anions as a tetrahedrally
close-packed substructure, we identify three partially occupied lithium
sites that define a contiguous three-dimensional network of face-sharing
tetrahedra. The active lithium-ion diffusion pathways within this
network are found to depend on the S/X anion configuration. For anion-disordered
systems, the active site–site pathways give a percolating three-dimensional
diffusion network; whereas for anion-ordered systems, critical site–site
pathways are inactive, giving a disconnected diffusion network with
lithium motion restricted to local orbits around S positions. Analysis
of the lithium substructure and dynamics in terms of the lithium coordination
around each sulfur site highlights a mechanistic link between substitutional
anion disorder and lithium disorder. In anion-ordered systems, the
lithium ions are pseudo-ordered, with preferential 6-fold coordination
of sulfur sites. Long-ranged lithium diffusion would disrupt this
SLi
6
pseudo-ordering, and is, therefore, disfavored. In
anion-disordered systems, the pseudo-ordered 6-fold S–Li coordination
is frustrated because of Li–Li Coulombic repulsion. Lithium
positions become disordered, giving a range of S–Li coordination
environments. Long-ranged lithium diffusion is now possible with no
net change in S–Li coordination numbers. This gives rise to
superionic lithium transport in the anion-disordered systems, effected
by a concerted string-like diffusion mechanism.