Ion conductivity in intermetallic lithium compounds

The dynamics of lithium ions is one of the subjects of the SFB 458 "Ionenbewegung in Materialien mit ungeordneten Strukturen - vom Elementarschritt zum makroskopischen Transport". In this context we are investigating ternary lithium-transition metal-germanides (indides, stannides and plumbides). Intermetallic lithium compounds may have some potential as electrode materials in batteries. We focus on the syntheses and structural determination of new compounds which might show possible lithium ion conductivity. We are trying to improve the syntheses conditions in order to provide reasonable amounts of the new compounds for the determination of their physical properties. The compounds are characterized by several methods, such as ion conductivity experiments with blocking electrodes, solid state Li-NMR, and ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy in the case of the stannides.