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Structure and electrochemical performance of LiFePO4 cathode materials modified with carbon coating and metal doping

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Abstract

LiFePO4 cathode material is considered as a competitive material for lithium-ion battery, but its poor electronic and ionic conductivity hinder its further commercial application. Carbon nanotubes are considered as one of the most promising carbon materials to improve the electrochemical performance of LiFePO4. However, they have poor dispersion in solution due to the high van der Waals forces, which makes it impossible to take full advantage of carbon nanotubes. In order to improve the dispersibility, phthalocyanine functionalized carbon nanotubes were prepared and used to improve the electrochemical performance of LiFePO4. In this work, four kinds of LiFePO4 cathode materials modified with phthalocyanine functionalized carbon nanotubes were prepared via mechanical milling method with subsequent calcination. The effect of different metals, carbon contents, structures and modification methods on the properties of LiFePO4/C composites was investigated by XRD, ICP-AES, FTIR, SEM, TEM, EIS, CV and charge–discharge tests. In addition, the modification ability of pure carbon nanotubes was compared. The results indicate that metal phthalocyanine functionalized carbon nanotubes can simultaneously achieve carbon coating and ion doping to further improve electrochemical performance of LiFePO4.

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Funding

The authors thank the Key Research and Development Projects of Shaanxi Province (No. 2022GY-375) for the financial support of this work.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecule of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710069, China

    Zhihua Liu, Ronglan Zhang, Feifei Xu, Yan Gao & Jianshe Zhao

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  1. Zhihua Liu
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  2. Ronglan Zhang
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Correspondence to Ronglan Zhang.

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Liu, Z., Zhang, R., Xu, F. et al. Structure and electrochemical performance of LiFePO4 cathode materials modified with carbon coating and metal doping. J Solid State Electrochem 26, 1655–1665 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-022-05198-8

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