Improving LiO conductance via polaron preemption: an \textit{ab initio} study of Si doping
arXiv:1303.5648 · doi:10.1063/1.4818268
Abstract
We report on \textit{ab initio} electronic structure simulations of LiO, where 1.6% of lithium atoms are substituted by silicon. It is demonstrated that this leads to the formation of conducting impurity states in the band gap of LiO. We show that these states originate from the antibonding orbitals of the oxygen pairs and are remarkably stable against possible polaron formation (upon electron injection). Through this polaron preemption mechanism, the proposed compound is expected to show significantly higher electronic mobility than stoichiometric LiO, which could have significant applications in lithium-air batteries.
4 pages, 4 figures