Highly efficient evaluation of diffusion networks in Li ionic conductors using a 3D-corrugation descriptor

A highly efficient computational approach for the screening of Li ion conducting materials is presented and its performance is demonstrated for olivine-type oxides and thiophosphates. The approach is based on a topological analysis of the electrostatic (Coulomb) potential obtained from a single density functional theory calculation augmented by a Born-Mayer-type repulsive term between Li ions and the anions of the material. This 3D-corrugation descriptor enables the automatic determination of diffusion pathways in one, two, and three dimensions and reproduces migration barriers obtained from density functional theory calculations using nudged elastic band method within approximately 0.1 eV. Importantly, it correlates with Li ion conductivity. This approach thus offers an efficient tool for evaluating, ranking, and optimizing materials with high Li-ion conductivity.