Chemical synthesis of Li3PS4 precursor suspension by liquid-phase shaking

A suspension of a submicron Li3PS4 (LPS) precursor in dimethyl carbonate was successfully prepared by shaking the mixture of starting materials and dimethyl carbonate with the presence of zirconia balls. LPS precursor formation from Li2S and P2S5 was complete after shaking for 5 h. Amorphous LPS was obtained from the precursor by drying at 190 degrees C; the ionic conductivity was 6.4 x 10(-6) S cm(-1), which is lower than that of glassy LPS prepared by planetary ball-milling method. The reason for the lower ionic conductivity of the prepared LPS is that undefined organic substances formed and remained in the prepared samples even after heating up to 260 degrees C in vacuum for 4 h. The LPS powder appeared to have uncertain morphology with the particle sizes smaller than 500 nm after being evacuated at 190 degrees C. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.