Research activities in Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences on the solid electrolytes for sodium sulfur batteries

This paper presents the research and development of β″-Al 2O 3 ceramic electrolytes for sodium sulfur battery applications in the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SICCAS). The process to prepare large size β″-Al 2O 3 ceramic tubes is described. Composite electrolytes with ZrO 2 as second phase additives are introduced. The strengthening and toughening effects of the second phase are significant. The results show that high quality β″-Al 2O 3 ceramic electrolytes with diameter as large as 60 mm and length of 500 mm are successfully produced. The composite of β″-Al 2O 3 and tetragonal ZrO 2 displayed much better mechanical properties than the pristine β″-Al 2O 3 ceramics.