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Improving the rate and low-temperature performance of LiFePO4 by tailoring the form of carbon coating from amorphous to graphene-like

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Abstract

A solid-state reaction process with poly(vinyl alcohol) as the carbon source is developed to synthesize LiFePO4-based active powders with or without modification assistance of a small amount of Li3V2(PO4)3. The samples are analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. It is found that, in addition to the minor effect of a lattice doping in LiFePO4 by substituting a tiny fraction of Fe2+ ions with V3+ ions, the change in the form of carbon coating on the surface of LiFePO4 plays a more important role to improve the electrochemical properties. The carbon changes partially from sp3 to sp2 hybridization and thus causes the significant rise in electronic conductivity in the Li3V2(PO4)3-modified LiFePO4 samples. Compared with the carbon-coated baseline LiFePO4, the composite material 0.9LiFePO4·0.1Li3V2(PO4)3 shows totally different carbon morphology and much better electrochemical properties. It delivers specific capacities of 143.6 mAh g−1 at 10 C rate and 119.2 mAh g−1 at 20 C rate, respectively. Even at the low temperature of −20 °C, it delivers a specific capacity of 118.4 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to show gratitude to the National Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51577175) and NSAF (grant no. U1630106) for its financial support. We also thank Elementec Ltd. in Suzhou for its technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversions, Department of Materials Science and Engineering & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui, Hefei, 230026, China

    Qiao Hu, Jia-Ying Liao, Bang-Kun Zou, Mu-Fan Yu, Zhong-Feng Tang & Chun-Hua Chen

  2. Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China

    Zhao-Yin Wen

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  1. Qiao Hu
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  2. Jia-Ying Liao
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Correspondence to Chun-Hua Chen.

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Hu, Q., Liao, JY., Zou, BK. et al. Improving the rate and low-temperature performance of LiFePO4 by tailoring the form of carbon coating from amorphous to graphene-like. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 797–805 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3777-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3777-y

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