Improved ion transport capacity in ceramic LiNbO₃ by doping with W to increase the Li vacancies

LiNbO₃ is a commonly used cathode coating material in Li-ion batteries (LIBs). However, LiNbO₃ has a poor ion transport capacity owing to the strong binding ability of the lattice structure to Li. In this study, a series of Li_(1–x)Nb_(1–x)W_xO₃ (x = 0–0.5) samples were synthesized by dissolving WO₃ in LiNbO₃, and the effects on structural changes and the ion transport capacity were studied. When x = 0.2, The lattice structure had not changed, but the activation energy was 0.5151 eV, and the ionic conductivity reached a maximum of 1.75 × 10^− 6 S cm^-1 at 90 ℃. When the amount of W was higher than the maximum solution amount, the LiNbWO₆ tetragonal phase appeared, and the ionic conductivity decreased. This study provides a new method to improve the migration ability of Li ions in LiNbO₃ and an experimental basis for subsequent studies on LiNbO₃ with WO₃ dissolving as a coating material for LIBs cathodes.